ma 


SEX-EDUCATION 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK   •    BOSTON   •    CHICAGO  •    DALLAS 
ATLANTA  •    SAN    FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN  &  CO.,  LIMITED 

LONDON  •    BOMBAY  •    CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNE 

THE  MACMILLAN  CO.  OF  CANADA,  LTD. 

TORONTO 


Courtesy  of  Dr.  A.  S.  Morrow. 
PRINCE  A.    MORROW 

Chief  organizer  of  the  American  movement  for  sex-education.  Physician,  educator, 
author,  social  reformer.  Born  in  Kentucky,  December  19,  1864.  Died  in  New  York 
City,  March  17,  1913. 


«7 

BIOLOGICAL 


SEX-EDUCATION 


A   SERIES   OF   LECTURES   CONCERNING 
KNOWLEDGE  OF  SEX  IN  ITS  RE- 
LATION  TO   HUMAN   LIFE 


BY 
MAURICE  A.   BIGELOW 

PROFKSSOR   OF   BIOLOGY  AND   DIRECTOR   OF  THE   SCHOOL 

OF  PRACTICAL  ARTS,  TEACHERS  COLLEGE 

COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY 


Nefo  If  orfe 

THE  MACMILLAN   COMPANY 
1916 

All  rights  reserved 


LIBRARY 
SCRIPPS      INSTITUTION 

OF  OCEANOGRAPHY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

LA  JOLLA.  CALIFORNIA 


04- 


COPYRIGHT,  1916, 
BY  THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY. 


Set  up  and  electrotyped.     Published  June,  1916. 


KortaooU 

J.  8.  Gushing  Co.  —  Berwick  <fc  Smith  Co. 
Norwood,  Mass.,  U.S.A. 


Co 

THE   MEMORY   OF 

DR.  PRINCE  A.   MORROW 

WHOSE  GREAT  FAITH   IN  THE   ESSENTIAL   GOODNESS   OF  HUMAN 

NATURE  LED  HIM  TO  BELIEVE  THAT  THE  PROBLEMS  OF 

SEX  HAVE  ARISEN   FROM   IGNORANCE  AND 

THAT  EDUCATION  IS  THE  KEY  TO 

THEIR   SOLUTION 


PREFATORY   NOTE 

MANY  of  the  lectures  printed  in  this  volume  have 
formed  the  basis  of  a  series  given  at  Teachers  Col- 
lege, Columbia  University,  during  the  summer  ses- 
sions of  1914  and  1915,  and  during  the  academic 
year  1914-1915.  Others  were  addressed  to  parents, 
to  groups  of  men,  to  women's  clubs,  and  to  confer- 
ences on  sex-education.  In  order  to  avoid  extensive 
repetition,  there  has  been  some  combination  and 
rearrangement  of  lectures  that  originally  were  ad- 
dressed to  groups  of  people  with  widely  different 
outlooks  on  the  sexual  problems. 

Several  years  ago  the  late  Dr.  Prince  A.  Morrow 
announced  that  a  volume  dealing  with  many  of  the 
timely  topics  of  sex-education  was  to  be  prepared 
by  the  undersigned  with  the  advice  and  criticism  of 
a  committee  of  the  American  Federation  for  Sex- 
Hygiene  ;  but  even  before  Dr.  Morrow's  death  it 
became  evident  that  this  plan  was  impracticable. 
Three  members  (Morrow,  Balliet,  Bigelow)  of  the 
original  committee  collaborated  in  a  report  presented 
at  the  XV  International  Congress  on  Hygiene  and 
Demography.  Since  that  time  the  writer,  working 
independently,  has  found  it  desirable  to  reorganize 
completely  the  original  outline  announced  by  Dr. 
Morrow. 


Vlll  PREFATORY   NOTE 

In  accordance  with  a  declaration  made  voluntarily 
in  a  conversation  with  Dr.  Morrow,  the  author  con- 
siders himself  pledged  to  devote  all  royalties  from 
this  book  to  the  movement  for  sex-education. 

Among  the  many  persons  to  whom  is  due  acknowl- 
edgment of  helpfulness  in  the  preparation  of  this 
book,  the  author  is  especially  indebted  for  sugges- 
tions to  the  late  Dr.  Prince  A.  Morrow,  to  Dr. 
William  F.  Snow,  Secretary  of  the  American  Social 
Hygiene  Association,  and  to  Dr.  Edward  L.  Keyes, 
Jr.,  President  of  the  Society  of  Sanitary  and  Moral 
Prophylaxis ;  for  constructive  criticism,  to  his  col- 
leagues, Professor  Jean  Broadhurst  and  Miss  Caro- 
line E.  Stackpole,  of  Teachers  College,  who  have 
read  carefully  both  the  original  lectures  and  the 
completed  manuscript ;  and  to  Olive  Crosby  Whitin 
(Mrs.  Frederick  H.  Whitin),  executive  secretary  of 
the  Society  of  Sanitary  and  Moral  Prophylaxis,  who 
has  suggested  and  criticized  helpfully  both  as  a 
reader  of  the  manuscript  and  as  an  auditor  of  many 
of  the  lectures  delivered  at  Teachers  College. 

M.  A.  B. 

TEACHERS  COLLEGE, 

COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY, 

December  28,  1915. 


SUMMARY   OF   CONTENTS 

PAGE 

I.    THE   MEANING,  NEED,  AND    SCOPE  OF   SEX- 
EDUCATION          1 

§  1.  Sex-education  and  its  relation  to 
sex-hygiene  and  social  hygiene.  §  2.  The 
misunderstanding  of  sex.  §  3.  The  need 
of  sex-instruction.  §  4.  The  scope  of  sex- 
education. 

II.    THE  PROBLEMS  FOR  SEX-EDUCATION       .        .      28 

§  5.  Sex  problems  and  the  need  of  spe- 
cial knowledge.  §  6.  First  problem  :  Per- 
sonal sex-hygiene.  §  7.  Second  problem  : 
Social  diseases.  §  8.  Third  problem : 
Social  evil.  §  9.  Fourth  problem :  Ille- 
gitimacy. §  10.  Fifth  problem :  Sexual 
morality.  §  11.  Sixth  problem :  Sexual 
vulgarity.  §  12.  Seventh  problem :  Mar- 
riage. §  13.  Eighth  Problem :  Eugenics. 
§  14.  Summary. 

III.  ORGANIZATION  OF  EDUCATIONAL  ATTACK  ON 

THE   SEX  PROBLEMS 90 

§  15.  The  task  of  sex-education.  §  16. 
The  aims  of  sex-education.  §  17.  The  aims 
as  the  basis  of  organized  sex- instruction. 

IV.  THE  TEACHER  OF  SEX-KNOWLEDGE         .        .    108 

§  18.    Who  should  give  sex-instruction  ? 
§   19.     The  child's  first  teachers   of  sex- 
ix 


X  CONTENTS 

PAGR 

knowledge.  §  20.  Selecting  teachers  for 
class  instruction.  §  21.  Certain  undesira- 
ble teachers  for  special  hygienic  and  ethical 
instruction. 

V.    BOOKS   AS  TEACHERS  CONCERNING  SEX  AND 

LIFE 121 

§  22.  Value  and  danger  of  special  sex- 
books  for  young  people.  §  23.  General 
literature  and  sex  problems.  §  24.  Dan- 
gers in  literature  on  sexual  abnormality. 

«VI.     SEX-INSTRUCTION  FOR  PRE-ADOLESCENT  YEARS    133 

§  25.  Elementary  instruction  and  influ- 
ence. §  26.  Hygienic  and  educational 
treatment  of  unhealthful  habits. 

VII.    SEX- INSTRUCTION    FOR    EARLY    ADOLESCENT 

YEARS 146 

§  27.  The  biological  foundations.  §  28. 
Scientific  facts  for  boys.  §  29.  Scientific 
facts  for  girls. 

VIII.     SPECIAL    SEX-INSTRUCTION  FOR  ADOLESCENT 

BOYS  AND  YOUNG  MEN     ....    156 

§  30.  Developing  attitude  towards  wom- 
anhood. §  31.  Developing  ideals  of  love 
and  marriage.  §  32.  Reasons  for  pre- 
marital continence.  §  33.  Essential  knowl- 
edge concerning  prostitution.  §  34.  Need 
of  refinement  of  men.  §  35.  Dancing  as  a 
sex  problem  for  men.  §  36.  Dress  of 
women  as  a  sex  problem  for  men.  §  37. 
The  problem  of  self-control  for  young  men. 
§  38.  The  mental  side  of  a  young  man's 
sexual  life. 


i  CONTENTS  XI 

PAGE 

IX.    SPECIAL  INSTRUCTION  FOR  MATURING  YOUNG 

WOMEN 184 

§  39.  The  young  woman's  attitude 
towards  manhood.  §  40.  The  young 
woman's  attitude  towards  love  and  marriage. 
§  41.  Reasons  for  pre-marital  continence 
of  young  women.  §42.  Need  of  optimistic 
and  aesthetic  views  of  sex  by  women.  §  43. 
Other  problems  for  young  women. 

X.    CRITICISMS  OF  SEX-EDUCATION        .        .        .    203 

§  44.  A  plea  for  reticence  —  Agnes 
Repplier.  §  45.  A  plea  for  religious  ap- 
proach —  Cosmo  Hamilton.  §  46.  The 
conflict  between  sex-hygiene  and  sex- 
ethics  —  Richard  Cabot.  §  47.  The  arro- 
gance of  the  advocates  of  sex-education  — 
William  H.  Maxwell.  §  48.  Lubricity  in 
education  —  W.  H.  Taft.  §  49.  Conclu- 
sions from  the  criticisms  of  sex-education. 

XI.    THE  PAST  AND  THE  FUTURE   OF   THE   SEX- 
EDUCATION*  MOVEMENT      ....    227 

§  50.  The  American  movement.  §  51. 
Important  steps.  §  52.  The  future  of  the 
larger  sex-education. 

XII.    SOME  BOOKS  FOR  SEX-EDUCATION  .        .       .    238 
INDEX  249 


SCRIPPS"     INSTITUTION 

FOR 
BIOLOGICAL    RESEARCH 


THE  MEANING,  NEED,  AND  SCOPE  OF  SEX- 
EDUCATION 

§  i.  Sex-education  and  Its  Relation  to  Sex-hygiene 
and  Social  Hygiene 

Sex-education  in  its  largest  sense  includes  all 
scientific,  ethical,  social,  and  religious  instruction 
and   influence   which   directly   and   in-  Definition 
directly  may  help  young  people  pre-  of  sex- 
pare  to  solve  for  themselves  the  prob-  educatlon- 
lems  of  sex  that  inevitably  come  in  some  form 
into  the  life  of  every  normal  human  individual. 
Note  the  carefully  .guarded  phrase  "help  young 
people  prepare  to  solve  for  themselves  the  problems 
of  sex",  for,  like  education  in  general,  special  sex- 
education  cannot  possibly  do  more  than  help  the 
individual  prepare  to  face  the  problems  of  life. 

Now,  sex-education  as  thus  defined  is  more  ex- 
tensive than  sex-hygiene,  which  term  was  originally 
applied  to  instruction  concerning  sex.  More  than 
Sex-hygiene  obviously  refers  to  health  sex-hygiene, 
as  influenced  by  sexual  processes,  and  as  such  it  is 
a  convenient  subdivision  of  the  science  of  health. 
It  would  be  quite  satisfactory  as  a  name  for  popular 
instruction  concerning  sex  if  that  were  strictly,  or 

B  I 


2  SEX-EDUCATION 

even  primarily,  hygienic;  but  in  a  later  lecture  it 
will  be  shown  that  the  most  desirable  sex-instruction 
is  only  in  a  minor  part  a  problem  of  hygiene.  I 
realize  that  this  statement  may  be  declared  heretical 
by  many  of  the  present-day  advocates  of  sex- 
hygiene,  because  they  have  approached  this  latest 
educational  movement  from  .the  standpoint  of 
physical  health,  and  especially  because  then*  atten- 
tion has  been  drawn  to  the  very  common  occurrence 
'of  pathological  conditions.  Nevertheless,  the  sexual 
problems  of  our  times  do  not  all  affect  physical 
health,  which  hygiene  aims  to  conserve;  and  the 
sex-educational  movement  will  be  quite  inadequate 
without  great  stress  upon  certain  ethical,  social, 
and  other  aspects  of  sex.  Young  people  need  in- 
struction that  relates  not  only  to  health  but  also 
to  attitude  and  to  morals  as  these  three  are  influenced 
by  sexual  instincts  and  relationships.  This  idea 
will  be  developed  later,  but  I  anticipate  here  simply 
to  suggest  the  point  of  view  of  the  statement  that 
"sex-hygiene"  is  altogether  too  limited  as  a  general 
designation  for  the  desirable  instruction  concerning 
sex.  The  continued  use  of  the  term  "sex-hygiene," 
now  that  the  scope  of  the  desirable  sex-instruction 
has  been  extended  far  beyond  the  accepted  limits  of 
the  science  of  health,  is  tending  to  cause  confusion. 
The  educational  problems  will  be  more  definite 
and  the  support  of  the  intelligent  public  more  as- 
sured if  we  limit  the  use  of  " sex-hygiene"  to  the 
specific  problems  of  health  as  affected  by  sexual 
processes  and  cease  trying  to  make  it  include  those 


THE   MEANING,   NEED,   AND   SCOPE  3 

phases  of  sex-instruction  which  have  nothing  directly 
to  do  with  health. 

Two  general  terms,  "sex-instruction"  and  "sex- 
education,"  are  available  as  all-inclusive  designa- 
tions of  the  desirable  instruction  concerning  any  as- 
pects of  sex.  They  are  quite  free  from  the  above 
objections  to  "sex-hygiene,"  and  it  is  highly  de- 
sirable that  they  should  be  used  in  all  educational 
discussions  where  there  is  no  specific  reference  to 
the  problems  of  health.  Sex-hygiene  will  be  used 
in  these  lectures  only  when  there  is  some  direct 
reference  to  health  as  influenced  by  the  sexual 
functions. 

Social  hygiene  in  its  complete  sense  means  the 
great  general  movement  for  the  improvement  of 
the  conditions  of  life  in  all  lines  in  social 
which  there  is  social  ill  health  or  need  hygiene, 
of  social  reform ;  but  it  is  often  limited  to  the  sexual 
aspect  of  the  unfortunate  and  unfavorable  condi- 
tions of  life,  and  it  has  been  proposed  to  adopt  the 
term  "social  hygiene"  as  a  substitute  that  avoids 
the  word  "sex"  in  sex-hygiene.  For  this  reason 
it  has  been  incorporated  into  the  names  of  several 
societies  that  are  interested  in  sex-hygiene  (e.g.,  the 
American  Social  Hygiene  Association).  Probably 
the  relation  of  sex-hygiene  to  the  so-called  "social 
evil"  has  suggested  the  use  of  social  hygiene  in  its 
most  limited  sense.  It  will  be  unfortunate  if  this 
usage  becomes  so  prominent  that  we  think  of  the 
health  problems  of  society  as  chiefly  sexual,  for  the 
larger  outlook  of  Ellis's  "Task  of  Social  Hygiene" 


SEX-EDUCATION 


is  desirable.  Likewise,  the  phrase  "social  evil" 
in  the  sense  of  sexual  evil  misleadingly  suggests 
that  the  only  evil  of  society  is  the  sexual  one,  but 
this  evasive  designation  is  being  supplanted  by  the 
more  definite  and  franker  word  "prostitution." 

It  should  be  noted  that  "social  hygiene"  as  a 
substitute  for  "sex-hygiene"  is  narrower  in  that  it 
does  not  include  the  personal  problems  of  health 
as  affected  by  sexual  processes.  This  is  a  serious 
omission,  for  certainly  all  sex-hygiene  taught  be- 
fore the  later  adolescent  years  should  be  personal 
and  not  social. 

Phases  of  ^e  ration  of  sex-hygiene  or  social 

sex-educa-     hygiene  as  a  limited  phase  of  sex-edu- 
cation is  shown  by  the  following  outline: 

for  sexual  health 


tion. 


In  the  broadest  out- 
look, sex-education 
(or  sex-instruction) 
includes : 


sex-hygiene  (per- 
sonal, social) 

biology  (including 
physiology)  of 
reproduction 


heredity  and  eu- 
genics      . 


ethics  and  sociol- 
ogy of  sex 

psychology  of  sex 


aesthetics  of  sex       for  attitude 


for  attitude  re- 
garding sex, 
and  for  im- 
portant scien- 
tific facts 

for  sexual  con- 
duct leading 
to  race  im- 
provement 

for  sexual  con- 
duct 

for  sexual  health 
and  conduct 


THE   MEANING,   NEED,   AND   SCOPE  5 

Since  the  original  purpose  of  sex  was  perpetua- 
tion of  plant  and  animal  species,  and  since  in  the 
study  of  biology  the  idea  of  sex  is  illus-  sex  and  re- 
trated  and  developed  by  examination  of  production, 
the  reproductive  processes  in  various  types,  it  has 
been  customary  for  many  writers  on  sex-education 
to  use  the  terms  "sex"  and  "reproduction"  as  if 
they  were  synonymous.  This  is  no  longer  so  in 
human  life ;  for  while  reproduction  is  a  sexual  pro- 
cess, sexual  activities  and  influences  are  often  quite 
unrelated  to  reproduction.  In  fact,  most  of  the 
big  problems  that  have  made  sex-education  desir- 
able, if  not  necessary,  are  problems  of  sex  apart  from 
reproduction.  It  therefore  seems  clear  that,  while 
studies  of  reproduction  are  prominent  in  sex-educa- 
tion, they  should  be  regarded  as  introductory  to  the 
problems  of  sex,  especially  for  young  people. 

§  2.    The  Misunderstanding  of  Sex 

Some  educators  have  expressed  the  wish  that 
some  one  might  suggest  a  satisfactory  substitute 
for  the  terms  "sex-hygiene"  and  "sex-  objection  to 
education,"  omitting  the  word  "sex."  word"s«." 
This  word  and  its  companion  "sexual"  are  objec- 
tionable because  they  are  associated  in  the  minds 
of  most  people  with  vulgar  interpretation  of  the 
physical  aspects  of  the  beginning  of  individual  life, 
and  much  of  the  opposition  to  the  proposed  sex- 
instruction  in  home  and  schools  is  evidently  based 
on  the  feeling  that  the  very  word  "sex"  involves 
something  inherently  vulgar. 


6  SEX-EDUCATION 

It  is  probable  that  many  decades  will  pass  before 
the  majority  of  intelligent  people  cease  to  feel  that 
Definite  tne  wor(k  "sex"  and  "sexual"  have 
words  had  such  vulgar  associations  that  they 

sary'  should  be  kept  out  of  our  everyday 
vocabulary,  but  I  can  see  no  hope  of  developing  an 
improved  attitude  towards  the  sexual  aspect  of 
human  life  if  we  continue  to  admit  that  we  are 
afraid  of  the  necessary  words.  It  seems  to  me  that 
in  one  decade  there  has  been  a  great  advance  in 
that  the  scientific  writers  and  speakers  on  problems 
of  sex  have  been  using  words  which  definitely  and 
directly  express  the  desired  meanings,  and  have 
avoided  the  suggestive  circumlocutions  which  char- 
acterize many  modern  realistic  novels.  One  who 
does  not  already  appreciate  the  serious  impressive- 
ness  of  cold  scientific  language  in  discussion  of  sexual 
problems  should  take  one  of  the  indecently  sugges- 
tive paragraphs  from  stories  in  the  most  notoriously 
vulgar  of  the  fifteen-cent  magazines,  and  translate 
the  meaning  of  the  paragraph  into  direct  and  definite 
words.  The  result  will  be  complete  loss  of  the 
stealthy  suggestiveness  which  has  made  concealed 
sexuality  so  dangerously  attractive  to  the  type  of 
mind  that  revels  in  the  modern  sex-problem  novels. 
We  want  no  such  suggestive  concealment  in  a  scheme 
of  sex-education,  for  it  aims  at  a  purer  and  higher 
understanding  of  sex  in  human  life.  We  must 
have  direct  and  definite  and  dignified  scientific 
language,  and  among  the  necessary  words  none 
are  as  essential  as  "sex"  and  "sexual."  We  must 


THE    MEANING,   NEED,   AND   SCOPE  7 

use  them  freely  if  attitude  towards  sex  is  to  be 
improved;  and  their  dignified  and  scientific  usage 
will  gradually  dispel  the  embarrassment  which  many 
unfortunate  people  now  experience  when  these 
words  remind  them  that  the  perpetuation  of  life 
in  all  its  higher  forms  has  been  intrusted  to  the 
cooperation  of  two  kinds,  or  sexes,  of  individuals. 

Thus  viewing  the  objections  which  have  been 
raised  against  the  use  of  the  word  "sex"  in 
the  educational  movement,  I  have  shifted  my  first 
stand  with  the  opposition  until  now  I  favor  the 
frank  and  dignified  use  of  this  and  similar  words 
on  appropriate  occasions.  I  believe  that  those 
interested  in  the  search  for  solutions  of  the  vital 
problems  of  sex  should  quietly  but  systematically 
work  to  include  the  words  "sex"  and  "sexual"  in 
the  dignified  and  scientific  vocabulary  needed  by 
all  people  to  express  the  newer  and  nobler  interpre- 
tations of  the  relationships  between  men  and  women. 

Of  course,  this  does  not  mean  that  sex,  either  as 
a  word  or  as  a  fact  of  nature,  should  be  over-em- 
phasized with  people  who  are  too  young  NO  "  sex  " 
to  appreciate  the  fundamental  facts  of  studies, 
life.  As  already  suggested,  it  is  not  desirable  that 
any  parts  of  the  curricula  for  schools  should  be  known 
to  the  pupils  as  "sex"  studies;  but  we  need  such 
terms  as  "sex-hygiene"  and  "sex-instruction"  to 
indicate  to  teachers  and  parents  that  certain  parts  of 
the  education  of  the  children  are  being  directed 
towards  a  healthy,  natural  and  wholesome  relation 
to  sex. 


8  SEX-EDUCATION 

It  is  absurd  to  suppose  that  the  free,  dignified, 
and  scientific  use  of  the  word  "sex"  is  going  to 
"  Sex  "  and  make  people  more  sensual,  more  uncon- 
"love."  trolled,  and  more  immoral.  There  is 
much  more  reason  for  fearing  the  free  use  of  the 
word  "love,"  which  has  both  psychical  and  physical 
meanings  so  confused  that  often  only  the  context 
of  sentences  enables  one  to  determine  which  mean- 
ing is  intended.  In  fact,  many  writers  and  speakers 
seek  to  avoid  all  possible  misunderstanding  by  using 
the  word  "affection"  for  psychical  love.  Now,  in 
spite  of  such  confusion,  and  the  fact  that  to  many 
people  the  word  "love"  in  connection  with  sex 
suggests  only  gross  sensuality,  we  continue  to 
use  it  freely  and  it  is  one  of  the  first  words  taught 
to  children.  Why  then  do  we  not  hear  protests 
against  using  the  word  "  love  "  ?  Simply  because  we 
have  been  from  childhood  accustomed  to  the  word, 
first  in  its  psychical  sense,  and  it  is  only  later  that 
most  of  us  have  learned  that  it  has  a  sensual  mean- 
ing to  some  people.  In  short,  familiarity  with 
the  word  "  love  "  in  its  psychical  sense  has  bred  in 
us  a  contempt  for  those  who  mistake  the  physical 
basis  of  love  for  love  in  its  combined  physical  and 
psychical  completeness. 

To  many  it  is  surprising  to  find  that  the  word 
"sex"  has  never  been  used  in  such  degraded  con- 
Meaning  of  nections  as  has  the  word  "love,"  and 
sex-  that  it  has  not  been  half  so  much  mis- 

understood. There  is  no  obvious  vulgarity  in  the 
lexicographer's  definitions  of  the  word  "sex."  It 


THE   MEANING,   NEED,   AND  SCOPE  9 

simply  means,  as  the  science  of  biology  points  out 
so  clearly,  that  the  perpetuation  of  human  life,  and 
of  most  other  species  of  life,  has  been  intrusted 
to  pairs  of  individuals  which  are  of  the  two  kinds 
commonly  called  the  sexes,  male  and  female.  Why 
nature  determined  that  each  new  life  in  the  vast 
majority  of  species  should  develop  from  two  other 
lives  has  long  been  a  biological  puzzle,  and  most 
satisfactory  of  the  answers  given  is  that  bi-parental 
origin  of  new  individuals  allows  for  new  combina- 
tions of  heritable  qualities  from  two  lines  of  descent. 
However,  such  a  biological  explanation  of  the  rela- 
tion of  the  two  sexes  to  double  parentage  is  of  rela- 
tively little  practical  significance  in  present-day 
human  life  when  compared  with  the  fact  that  out  of 
the  necessity  for  life's  perpetuation  by  two  cooperat- 
ing individuals  there  has  grown  psychical  or  spiritual 
love  with  all  its  splendid  possibilities  that  are  evi- 
dent hi  ideal  family  -life.  Moreover,  the  influence 
of  sex  in  human  life  has  extended  far  beyond  the 
family  (that  is,  that  group  of  individuals  who  stand 
related  to  one  another  as  husband,  wife,  parents, 
and  children),  for  it  is  a  careless  observer  indeed 
who  does  not  note  in  our  daily  life  many  social  and 
psychical  relationships  of  men  and  women  who  have 
no  mutual  interests  relating  to  the  biological  pro- 
cesses of  race  perpetuation.  Of  course,  the  psychol- 
ogist recognizes  that  far  back  of  the  platonic  con- 
tact of  the  sexes  on  social  and  intellectual  lines 
is  the  suppressed  and  primal  instinct  that  provides 
physical  unions  for  race  perpetuation.  However, 


IO  SEX-EDUCATION 

this  is  of  no  practical  interest,  for,  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  the  primal  instincts  are  quite  subconscious  in 
the  usual  social  relations  between  the  sexes. 

There  is  grandeur  in  this  view  of  sex  as  originally 
a  provision  for  perpetuation  of  life  by  two  cooperat- 
The  larger  ing  individuals,  later  becoming  the  basis 
view  of  sex.  of  conjugal  affection  of  the  two  individ- 
uals for  each  other  and  of  their  parental  affection 
for  their  offspring,  and  finally  leading  to  social  and 
intellectual  comradeship  of  men  and  women  meet- 
ing on  terms  which  are  practically  free  from  the 
original  and  biological  meaning  of  sex. 

Instead,  then,  of  trying  to  keep  sex,  both  word  and 
fact,  in  the  background  of  the  new  educational 
movement,  I  believe  it  is  best  to  work  definitely  for 
a  better  understanding  of  the  part  which  sex  plays 
in  human  life,  as  outlined  in  the  preceding  para- 
graph. Hence,  in  these  lectures  I  shall  never  go 
aside  in  order  to  avoid  either  the  word  or  the  idea 
of  sex;  on  the  contrary,  I  shall  attempt  to  direct 
the  discussion  so  as  to  emphasize  the  larger  and 
very  modern  view  of  the  relationship  of  sex  and 
human  life. 

In  this  first  lecture  I  want  to  make  it  clear  that 
the  role  of  sex  in  human  life  is  vastly  greater  than 
that  directly  involved  in  sexual  activity.  I  shall 
in  several  lectures  touch  the  big  problems  from  the 
standpoint  of  the  sexual  instincts  as  these  play  an 
important  part  in  social,  psychical,  and  aesthetic 
life  even  if  they  are  rarely  exercised,  physiologically, 
or  if,  as  in  millions  of  individuals,  they  never  come 


THE  MEANING,   NEED,   AND  SCOPE  II 

to  mean  more  than  possibilities  of  sexual  activity  for 
which  opportunities  hi  marriage  do  not  come.  I 
am  especially  anxious  to  avoid  the  nar_  The  many- 
row  viewpoint  of  numerous  writers  on  sided  bear- 
sex-hygiene  who  seem  to  overlook  the  mgso 
fact  that  sexual  functioning  is  only  a  prominent 
incident  in  the  cycle  of  sexual  influences  in  the  lives 
of  most  people.  Human  life,  and  especially  mar- 
riage, should  no  longer  be  regarded  from  the  mere 
biological  point  of  view  as  for  the  sole  purpose  of 
reproductive  activity.  It  is  a  far  more  uplifting 
view  that  the  conscious  or  unconscious  existence  of 
the  sexual  instincts,  with  or  without  occasional 
activity,  affords  the  fundamental  physical  basis  for 
states  of  mind  that  may  profoundly  affect  the  whole 
course  of  life  in  every  normal  man  and  woman. 

Supplementary  to  this  section  on  the  "Misun- 
derstanding of  Sex,"  I  suggest  the  reading  of  Chap- 
ters I-VI  of  "Sex ".by  Geddes  and  Thomson,  the 
"Problems  of  Sex"  by  the  same  authors,  and  Chap- 
ter VI  in  "The  Wonder  of  Life"  by  Thomson. 

§  3.   The  Need  of  Sex-Instruction 

The  time-honored  policy  has  been  one  of  silence 
and  mystery  concerning  all  things  sexual.     Every- 
thing in  that  line  has  long  been  con- 
sidered impure  and  degraded  and,  there-  silence  and 
fore,  the  less  said  and  the  less  known,   the  new  en- 

,       ,  .   „       ,  '    lightenment. 

the  better,  especially  for  young  people. 

Such  has  been   the  almost  universal  attitude  of 

parents  until  within  the  present  century,  when  many 


1 2  SEX-EDUCATION 

have  awakened  to  the  fact  that  the  policy  of  silence 
has  been  a  gigantic  failure,  because  it  has  not  pre- 
served purity  and  innocence  and  because  it  has 
allowed  grave  evils,  both  hygienic  and  moral,  to 
develop  under  the  cloak  of  secrecy. 

"I  don't  believe  in  teaching  my  boys  and  girls 
any  facts  concerning  sex.  I  prefer  to  keep  them 
innocent  until  they  have  grown  up."  In  these 
decisive  words  a  prominent  woman  closed  a  state- 
ment of  her  firm  conviction  that  the  world-wide 
movement  for  the  sex-instruction  of  young  people 
is  a  stupendous  mistake.  Poor  deluded  mother! 
How  does  she  expect  to  keep  her  children  ignorant 
of  the  world  of  life  around  them?  Is  she  planning 
to  transplant  them  to  a  deserted  island  where  they 
may  grow  up  innocently?  Or  is  she  going  to  keep 

the    children    in    some    cloister    within 
Children  „ 

will  not          whose    walls    there    will    be    immunity 

remain  from  the  contamination  of  the  great 
ignorant.  .  . 

busy  world  outside?      Or  is  she  going 

to  have  them  guarded  like  crown  princes,  and  if 
so,  where  are  absolutely  safe  guards  to  be  found? 
Such  are  the  questions  which  rush  into  the  minds 
of  those  who  have  studied  the  problem  of  keeping 
children  ignorant  of  the  most  significant  facts  of 
life.  It  is  usually  an  easy  matter  to  protect  chil- 
dren against  smallpox  and  typhoid  and  some  other 
diseases,  but  no  parent  or  educator  has  yet  found  out 
how  we  may  be  sure  to  keep  real  live  children  igno- 
rant of  sex  knowledge.  They  seem  to  absorb  such 
forbidden  facts  as  naturally  and  as  freely  as  the  air 


THE   MEANING,    NEED,    AND   SCOPE  13 

they  breathe.  Ask  any  large  group  of  representa- 
tive men  —  ministers,  or  doctors,  or  teachers,  or 
men  of  business,  or  the  world's  toilers  —  whether 
any  of  them  knew  the  essential  facts  of  sexual  life 
before  they  were  twelve  years  of  age,  and  ninety- 
seven  in  every  hundred  will  answer  quickly  hi  the 
affirmative.  Ask  any  large  group  of  women, 
excepting  those  whose  girlhood  has  been  guarded 
with  exceptional  care,  and  the  overwhelming  ma- 
jority will  acknowledge  that  they  knew  the  essential 
facts  before  they  were  fifteen  years  old.  Once 
more,  ask  these  same  men  and  women  whether  their 
early  knowledge  of  sex  came  from  pure  and  reliable 
sources  or  from  vulgar  playmates  and  depraved 
servants ;  and  with  rare  exceptions  it  is  found  that 
vulgarity  made  the  strongest  impression  in  the  first 
lessons  concerning  the  great  facts  of  life.  Such 
being  the  truth,  it  is  nonsense  for  parents  to  sit  in 
complacency  because  they  feel  sure  that  their 
children  are  safely  protected  against  any  vulgar 
first  lessons  concerning  sex;  for  no  one  can  know 
that  children  are  safely  guarded  from  others  who 
may  corrupt  their  innocent  minds.  As  an  illus- 
tration, a  few  years  ago  the  mothers  of  a  group  of 
little  girls  in  one  of  the  best-managed  private  schools 
felt  that  with  careful  supervision  both  in  school  and 
home  there  was  no  danger  of  forbidden  knowledge 
reaching  the  children.  But  one  day  a  new  pupil 
innocently  exhibited  to  her  mother  a  miniature 
notebook  with  unprintable  notes  on  sexual  topics. 
The  resulting  investigation  revealed  a  secret  club 


14  SEX-EDUCATION 

organized  by  the  pupils  for  the  purpose  of  passing 
to  each  member  through  notebooks  all  newly  ac- 
quired information,  which  had  a  peculiar  value 
because  it  must  be  kept  secret  from  teachers  and 
parents.  That  club  had  been  in  existence  during 
two  school  years.  This  is  only  a  sample  case  of 
many  which  have  proved  that  if  children  are  allowed 
the  freedom  that  developing  individuality  demands, 
their  mothers  must  not  feel  too  sure  that  their 
darlings  are  protected  against  knowledge  of  life, 
and  perhaps  of  life  in  its  most  degraded  aspects. 

Here,  then,  is  the  fact  that  every  parent  should 
ponder  seriously:  Normal  children  are  almost 
The  vital  certain  to  get  sexual  information  not 
question  for  later  than  the  early  adolescent  years, 
and  usually  from  unreliable  and  vulgar 
sources.  It  is,  therefore,  not  a  question  whether 
children  of  school  ages  should  be  taught  the  impor- 
tant facts  of  sex,  but  whether  parents  and  trained 
teachers  rather  than  playmates  and  other  unreliable 
persons  should  be  the  instructors.  Which  will 
parents  choose  for  their  own  children?  Thousands 
of  intelligent  parents  have  already  faced  this  ques- 
tion, and  have  decided  that  their  children  shall 
have  early  sex-instruction  in  home  or  school  or 
both  in  order  that  there  will  be  little  danger  of  vul- 
gar impressions  taking  a  deep  hold  on  child  minds. 

Granted,  then,  that  children  should  be  given 
some  reliable  instruction  concerning  things  sexual, 
who  should  be  the  teacher,  what  should  be  taught, 
and  when  should  the  instruction  be  given?  These 


THE  MEANING,   NEED,   AND   SCOPE  1 5 

are  the  fundamental  questions  now  being  considered 
by  the  parents  and  educators  who  have  accepted 
sex-education  as  necessary.  Upon  the  final  answers 
to  such  questions  the  decision  of  many  parents  will  de- 
pend. I  shall  attempt  to  answer  them  in  later  lectures. 
The  policy  of  maintaining  mystery  and  secrecy 
concerning  sex  has  failed  with  adults  even  more 
sadly  than  with  children.  Health  and  morals 
have  suffered  incalculable  injury.  The  sexual 
evils  of  our  time  are  not  as  bad  as  were  those  of  the 
ancient  civilizations,  but  we  have  little  reason  to 

be  proud  of  the  slight  progress  made. 

Sex  mystery 
Hut  why  should  we  expect  the  human  haspre- 

race  to  make  progress  when  sexual  vented 
problems  have  been  kept  in  darkness? 
The  wonder  is  that,  with  the  prevailing  dark  out- 
look on  sexual  life  throughout  the  past  nineteen 
centuries,  the  world  has  not  developed  more  sexual 
vice.  Innate  animalistic  appetites  have  tended 
to  lead  downward,  and  surely  the  policy  of  silence 
has  offered  no  counteracting  influence  towards 
higher  living.  While  religion  and  ethics,  by  means 
of  certain  rules  of  conduct,  have  maintained  certain 
sexual  standards,  they  have  not  kept  vast  numbers 
of  humans  from  falling  far  below  those  standards 
into  utter  degradation.  The  modern  teachers  of 
religion  and  ethics  have  prevented  general  sexual 
degradation,  but  they  have  failed  to  give  human 
sexuality  any  decided  uplift.  The  reason  for  this 
failure  is  the  policy  of  mystery  and  silence.  The 
teachers  of  religion  and  ethics  have  preferred  to 


1 6  SEX-EDUCATION 

let  general  and  more  or  less  abstruse  rules  govern 
conduct  in  sexual  lines.  Until  recent  years  there 
have  been  few  sermons  in  which  common  sexual 
problems  have  been  presented  so  that  the  preacher's 
meaning  has  been  clear  to  all.  On  the  contrary, 
there  has  been  universal  mystery  and  evasion 
concerning  the  greatest  facts  of  life. 

Many  people  have  justified  the  mystery  thrown 
around  sexual  processes  on  the  theory  that  the 
Sexual  in-  reproductive  instincts  of  mature  people 
stincts  offer  are  sufficient  guides  for  conduct.  This 
no  guidance.  mvo}ves  a  misunderstanding  of  sexual 
instincts  of  the  higher  mammals  which  are  often 
unscientifically  cited  as  models  for  human  imitation. 
In  these  animals  sexual  union  is  instinctively  deter- 
mined, because  normally  the  sexual  hunger  or  excite- 
ment of  both  sexes  is  stimulated  and  controlled 
by  the  physiological  condition  of  the  female  at  the 
times  favorable  for  fertilization  (i.e.,  at  the  cestrual 
periods).  For  example,  a  pair  of  dogs  living  in 
close  companionship  show  signs  of  mutual  sexual 
desires  only  for  a  few  days  at  the  semi-annual 
cestrual  or  fertile  periods  of  the  female.  It  occa- 
sionally happens  that  the  males  of  various  wild  and 
domesticated  mammals  exhibit  signs  of  automatic 
sexual  excitement  (i.e.,  not  caused  by  the  stimulus 
arising  from  the  physiological  condition  of  the  fe- 
male) ;  but  in  such  cases  of  male  excitement  out- 
side of  the  mating  or  oestrual  periods,  the  normal 
females  invariably  offer  instinctive  opposition  to 
attempted  union  by  abnormally  or  automatically 


THE   MEANING,   NEED,   AND   SCOPE  1 7 

excited  males.  Thus,  directly  and  indirectly,  there 
is  instinctive  control  and  limitation  of  sexual  union 
among  the  animals  that  are  most  closely  related  to 
the  human  race. 

It  is  biologically  possible  that  similar  conditions 
may  have  existed  in  the  earliest  human  life,  but  that 
is  pure  speculation  and  has  no  bearing  on  the  practi- 
cal problems  of  sex  in  human  life  to-day.  The 
fact  is  that  the  simple  physiological  stimuli  which 
produce  sexual  excitement  in  both  sexes  of  animals 
have  practically  no  influence  in  determining  human 
sexual  union.  On  the  contrary,  memory  associa- 
tions consciously  connected  with  the  opposite  sex, 
especially  those  associations  that  are  centered  in 
affection,  may  at  any  time  in  the  normal  individ- 
ual of  either  human  sex  afford  the  basis  for  a 
chain  of  mental  states  leading  to  sexual  excitement 
and  union.  There  is  not,  as  in  the  animals,  in- 
stinctive dependence  .on  the  physiological  condi- 
tions that  are  favorable  for  fertilization.  In  fact, 
spontaneous  physiological  demands  play  in  civilized 
human  life  a  minor  part  in  initiating  sexual  excite- 
ment. The  reason  why  some  humans  seem  to 
have  unusual  sexual  intensity  is  not  so  much  a 
matter  of  exceptionally  strong  sexuality  as  of 
susceptibility  to  the  numerous  sexual  stimuli 
with  which  modern  life  abounds.  For  this  reason, 
a  man  who  has  formed  lewd  memory  associations 
is  more  susceptible  to  sexual  stimulations,  e.g., 
by  obscene  pictures,  vulgar  words,  unusual  dress 
or  actions  of  women,  close  physical  association  as 
c 


1 8  SEX-EDUCATION 

in  dancing,  and  certain  forms  of  music.  It  is  not 
at  all  uncommon  that  individuals  who  are  hyper- 
sensitive to  sexually  suggestive  stimuli  are  really 
functionally  weak. 

It  follows  from  the  facts  outlined  above  that  in- 
stinctive control  of  sexual  actions  applies  to  animals 
but  not  to  human  life.  On  the  contrary,  human 
control  must  be  on  the  basis  of  intelligent  choice. 
This  means  the  greatest  task  of  human  life,  for  it 
Intelligent  requires  voluntary  control  of  instinctive 
control  only,  demands  which  are  intensified  by  nu- 
merous stimuli  or  temptations  that  are  exclusively 
human.  No  wonder  that  natural  sex  hunger  left 
uncontrolled  leads  human  beings  to  excesses  and 
degradation  that  no  species  of  animals  with  their 
guiding  instincts  could  possibly  reach. 

The  absence  from  human  life  of  any  instinctive 
control  of  sexual  actions  leaves  a  great  responsibility 
Individual  on  eacn  individual  whose  natural  desires 
responsi-  lead  impulsively  and  insistently  towards 
sexual  union  and  must  be  restrained, 
controlled,  and  directed  by  voluntary  choice.  In 
short,  all  individuals  who  are  intelligent  beings 
are  personally  responsible  for  voluntary  control  of 
their  sexual  desires  with  reference  to  the  ethical, 
social,  and  eugenic  interests  and  rights  of  all  other 
individuals  now  and  in  the  future. 

With  such  an  understanding  of  instincts  in  rela- 
tion to  human  sexual  actions,  we  cannot  wonder 
that  the  old  policy  of  mystery  has  failed  so  com- 
pletely. Since  human  beings  are  left  to  control 


THE   MEANING,   NEED,   AND   SCOPE  1 9 

the  most  powerful  appetite  by  intelligence,  it  is 
evident  that  a  policy  based  on  silence,  ignorance, 
and  mystery  must  fail.    The  only  safe  and  sure 
road  to  the  needed  control  of  sexual  actions  is  to 
be  found  in  knowledge,  and  the  wide-  Sexual 
spread  recognition  of  this  fact  has  led  knowledge 
to  the  new  movement  for  general  en-  * 
lightenment   regarding    sexual   processes   in    their 
various  relations  to  human  life. 

It  is  not  surprising  that  we  have  turned  to  seek 
an  educational  solution  for  the  problems  of  sex. 

Education    has    become    the    modern 

,  ,          .„          ,       .      .       Education 

panacea  for  many  of  our  ills  —  hygienic,  as  a  solution 

industrial,  political,  and  social.  We  ofsexprob- 
have  found  people  losing  health  for  vari- 
ous reasons  and  we  have  proposed  hygienic  instruc- 
tion as  a  prophylactic.  We  have  analyzed  many 
problems  of  the  industries,  and  now  we  are  beginning 
to  seek  their  solution  in  industrial  education.  We 
have  noted  that  numerous  social  and  political  mis- 
understandings check  progress  of  individuals  and 
nations,  and  we  are  coming  to  think  the  pathway 
upwards  is  to  be  found  in  better  knowledge  of  social 
and  political  science.  And,  in  like  manner,  in  every 
phase  of  this  modern  life  of  ours  we  are  looking  to 
knowledge  as  the  key  to  all  significant  problems. 
It  is  truly  the  age  of  education,  not  simply  the 
education  offered  in  schools  and  colleges,  but  edu- 
cation in  the  larger  sense,  including  the  learning 
of  useful  knowledge  from  all  sources  whatsoever. 
With  such  unbounded  confidence  in  the  all- 


2O  SEX-EDUCATION 

sufficiency  of  education,  it  is  most  natural  that  we 
should  turn  to  it  in  these  times  when  we  have  come 
to  realize  the  existence  of  amazing  sexual  problems 
caused  either  by  ignorant  misuse,  or  by  deliberate 
abuse,  of  the  sexual  functions  which  biologically 
are  intrusted  with  the  perpetuation  of  human  life 
and  which  psychologically  are  the  source  of  human 
affection  in  its  supreme  forms.  If  education  is  to 
solve  the  civic,  hygienic,  and  industrial  problems  of 
to-day  and  to-morrow,  why  should  it  not  also  help 
with  the  age-old  sexual  evils?  So  reasoning,  we 
have  naturally  turned  to  education  as  one,  but 
not  the  only,  method  of  attack  on  the  sexual  prob- 
lems which  have  degraded  and  devitalized  human 
life  of  all  past  times,  but  which  somehow  have  kept 
out  of  the  limelight  of  publicity  until  our  own  times. 

§  4.   The  Scope  of  Sex-education 

It  is  well  to  make  clear  in  this  first  lecture  that 
no  one  proposes  to  limit  sex-instruction  to  schools 

and    colleges.     We    may    safely    leave 
Sei-educa-  .  .  .  , 

turn  is  not     mathematics    and    writing    and    even 

primarily  for  reading  to  schools,  but  sex-education 
schools.  ...  ,  .,  .  ,  .  .  , 

will  fail  unless  the  schools  can  get  the 

cooperation  of  the  homes,  the  churches,  the  Y.M. 
C.A.,  the  Y.W.C.A.,  the  W.C.T.U.,  the  Boy  Scouts, 
the  Camp  Fire  Girls,  and  other  organizations 
which  aim  to  reach  young  people  socially,  religiously, 
and  ethically.  The  part  which  these  have  already 
taken  in  the  sex-education  movement  is  in  the 
aggregate  far  more  important  than  what  the  schools 


THE    MEANING,   NEED,   AND   SCOPE  21 

have  been  able  to  accomplish.  Sex-education, 
then,  should  be  understood  as  including  all  serious 
instruction  —  no  matter  where  or  when  or  by  whom 
given  —  which  aims  to  help  young  people  face  the 
problems  that  normal  sexual  processes  bring  to 
every  life. 

In  a  later  lecture  I  shall  urge  the  importance  of 
beginning  sex-instruction  in  the  home.  There  are 
some  parents  who  wish  that  it  were  possible  not 
only  to  begin  but  also  to  end  it  there,  for  they  fear 
that  public  instruction  will  lead  to  a  weakening 
of  a  certain  sense  of  reserve  and  privacy  that  has 
long  been  considered  sacred  to  the  best 

e       -i        i-r         T>     i.  <.!.•       v.  Sex-instruc- 

family    hie.     Perhaps    this    has    some  tion  impos- 

truth,  but  we  must  remember  that  only  sibieinmost 

i  i  1-111        homes. 

in  rare  homes  are  there  such  ideal  rela- 
tionships of  parents  to  each  other  and  to  their  off- 
spring that  matters  of  sex  are  sacred  to  the  family 
circle.  The  fact  which  parents  and  educators  must 
face  is  that  there  are  now  relatively  few  homes  in 
which  there  is  one  parent  able  to  begin  the  elemen- 
tary instruction  of  young  children ;  and,  therefore, 
as  a  practical  matter  for  the  best  interests  of  the 
vast  majority  of  young  people,  we  must  consider 
ways  and  means  for  instruction  outside  of  most 
homes.  This  need  not  interfere  in  the  least  with 
the  parents  who  are  able  and  willing  to  give  sex- 
instruction  to  the  children,  for  the  home  instruction 
will  naturally  anticipate  that  which  the  schools 
must  give  for  the  pupils  who  are  not  properly 
instructed  at  home.  It  seems  to  me  to  be  a  situa- 


22  SEX-EDUCATION 

tion  like  that  of  children  learning  to  read  at  home 
and  later  continuing  reading  at  school.  Sex-instruc- 
tion begun  at  home  will  form  the  child's  attitude  and 
give  him  some  elementary  information,  and  later 
he  may  profitably  learn  more  in  the  same  lines  in 
the  class  work  of  school,  especially  in  connection 
with  science  instruction  for  which  few  homes  have 
facilities.  Moreover,  it  is  quite  possible  that  one 
instructed  at  home  in  childhood  may  gain  from  later 
school  instruction  something  of  great  social  value, 
for  we  must  remember  that  the  problems  of  sex 
which  most  demand  attention  are  not  individual, 
but  social.  Hence,  it  may  be  worth  while  for  the 
home-instructed  individual  to  learn  through  class 
instruction  that  people  outside  the  home  look 
seriously  upon  knowledge  concerning  sexual  pro- 
cesses, and  that  every  individual's  life  must  be  ad- 
justed to  other  lives,  that  is,  to  society. 

Summarizing,  it  appears  that  however  desirable 
home  instruction  regarding  sex  may  be,  the  majority 
of  parents  are  not  able  and  willing  to  undertake  the 
work,  and  so  the  public  educational  system  and 
organizations  for  social  and  religious  work  should 
provide  a  scheme  of  instruction  which  will  make  sure 
that  all  young  people  will  have  an  opportunity  to 
get  the  most  helpful  information  for  the  guidance  of 
their  lives. 

In  order  to  gain  the  serious  attention  of  those 
who  believe  themselves  unalterably  opposed  to 
school  instruction  regarding  things  sexual,  I  an- 
ticipate a  later  discussion  and  mention  in  this 


THE   MEANING,   NEED,   AND   SCOPE  23 

connection  that  there  must  be  great  caution  in 
all  attempts  at  school  teaching  that  directly  touches 
human  sexual  life.  It  would  be  a  dan-  Caution  in 
gerous  experiment  to  introduce  sex-in-  school  in- 
struction into  all  schools  by  sudden  structlon- 
legislation.  There  must  be  specially  trained  teachers 
of  selected  personality  and  tact.  No  existing  high 
school  has  enough  such  teachers,  and  in  the  grammar 
schools  where  the  pupils  are  at  the  age  when  proper 
instruction  would  influence  them  most,  the  problem 
of  general  class  instruction  is  absolutely  unsolved. 
Only  here  and  there  in  schools  below  the  high  school 
has  a  teacher  or  principal  of  rare  quality  made 
satisfactory  experimental  teaching.  So  uncertain 
are  we  at  present  regarding  how  we  should  approach 
the  problem  of  teaching  grammar-school  children 
that  the  only  safe  advice  for  general  use  is  that 
teachers,  or  preferably  principals,  should  begin 
with  parents'  conferences  led  by  one  who  is  a 
conservative  expert  on  sex-instruction.  Were  I 
principal  of  a  school  with  pupils  from,  say,  two 
hundred  and  fifty  homes,  I  should  begin  at  once  to 
organize  conferences  designed  to  awaken  the  parents 
to  the  need  of  sex-instruction  for  their  children, 
and  to  the  importance  of  making  at  least  a  begin- 
ning in  the  homes.  I  should  expect,  Parents' co- 
according  to  the  experience  of  others,  operation, 
that  of  the  five  hundred  parents,  two  hundred 
mothers  and  fifty  fathers  would  take  an  interest  in 
the  conferences,  and  that  at  least  one  hundred 
fathers  too  busy  for  meetings  would  approve  heartily 


24  SEX-EDUCATION 

after  hearing  reports  from  their  wives.  Thus,  I 
should  try  to  reach  the  majority  of  homes  repre- 
sented in  my  school.  I  should  be  in  no  hurry  to 
introduce  class  instruction  —  I  mean  instruction 
related  directly  to  human  life;  but,  of  course,  I 
should  encourage  my  teachers  to  emphasize  the  life- 
histories  of  animals  and  plants  in  the  nature-study, 
and  so  lay  hi  the  pupils'  minds  a  firm  foundation 
for  later  connection  between  human  life  and  all 
life.  At  the  same  time,  I  should  keep  my  teachers 
on  the  lookout  for  individual  pupils  or  groups  that 
might  need  special  attention  and,  if  such  be  found, 
I  should  seek  the  cooperation  of  their  parents.  And 
finally,  after  a  year  or  two  of  co-working  with  par- 
ents, I  should  hope  to  get  permission  for  special  talks 
based  on  nature-study  and  hygiene.  These  talks 
should  first  be  given  to  limited  groups  of  pupils,  pref- 
erably hi  the  presence  of  some  parents  who  are  in- 
terested and  who  have  given  their  children  some 
home  instruction.  Working  along  such  con- 
servative lines,  I  believe  a  tactful  principal  of  a 
grammar  school  might  succeed  in  developing 
much  of  the  needed  instruction  for  pre-adolescent 
pupils. 

With  regard  to  high-school  pupils,  we  should 
remember  that  nine-tenths  of  the  desirable  informa- 
Instruction  ^on  *s  already  included  in  the  biology 
in  high  of  our  best  high  schools.  The  remain- 
schools.  ing  tenth  ig  that  which  connects  all  life 

with  human  life ;  and  this  requires  tact  and  excep- 
tional skill.  However,  the  high  schools  no  longer 


THE  MEANING,  NEED,  AND  SCOPE      25 

offer  an  insoluble  problem,  for  many  teachers  have 
succeeded  in  giving  the  desirable  instruction  to  the 
satisfaction  of  critical  principals  and  parents. 

There  is  a  widespread  impression  that  sex-instruc- 
tion should  begin  with  the  approach  of  adolescence 
and  soon  be  completed.  This  idea  is  sex-educa- 

often  expressed  by  parents  and  even  by  tionfrom 

. J    early  child- 
prominent  educators  who  say  that  the  hood  to 

father  or  teacher  ought  "  to  take  the  boy  maturity, 
of  thirteen  aside  and  tell  him  some  things  he  ought 
to  know."  Still  others  have  the  same  point  of 
view  when  they  advocate  that  a  physician  should 
be  called  for  a  lecture  to  high-school  boys.  In  fact, 
most  people  who  have  not  seriously  studied  the 
problems  of  sex-education  seem  to  believe  that  one 
concentrated  dose  of  sex-instruction  in  adolescent 
years  is  sufficient  guidance  for  young  people. 

Such  limited  personal  instruction  might  suffice 
if  sex-education  were  limited  to  sex-hygiene.  A  few 
hygienic  commands  in  pre-adolescent  years  and 
one  impressive  talk  in  early  puberty  might  teach 
the  boy  or  girl  how  not  to  interfere  with  health; 
but  it  is  improbable  that  such  brief  instruction 
will  make  a  permanent  impression  which  will  insure 
hygienic  practice  of  the  precepts  laid  down.  If 
we  hold  that  sex-hygiene  is  important,  then  it  must 
be  drilled  into  the  learner  from  several  points  of 
view.  An  isolated  lesson  on  any  topic  of  general 
hygiene  is  of  very  doubtful  efficiency. 

The  most  important  reason  why  sex-instruction 
should  not  be  concentrated  in  a  short  period  of 


26  SEX-EDUCATION 

youth  is  that  it  is  impossible  to  exert  the  most 
desirable  influence  upon  health,  attitude,  and  morals 
Brief  in-  except  by  instruction  beginning  in  early 

struction        childhood  and  graded  for  each  period  of 

does  not 

fix  atti-          hie  up  to  maturity.     Most  young  people 

tude.  wno  m  early  adolescence  receive  their 

first  lessons  from  parents  and  teachers  have  already 
had  their  attitude  formed  by  their  playmates. 
Even  their  morals  may  become  corrupted  and  their 
health  irreparably  injured  several  years  before 
puberty.  The  only  sure  pathway  to  health,  atti- 
tude, and  morals  is  in  beginning  with  young  chil- 
dren and  instructing  them  as  gradually  as  the 
problems  of  sex  come  forward. 

The  greatest  possible  good  of  sex-education 
will  not  be  secured  if  it  stops  with  early  adolescent 
Sex-instruc-  vears-  There  are  many  problems  of 
tion  after  sex  in  relation  to  society,  particularly  in 
relation  to  monogamic  marriage,  that 
young  people  should  be  led  to  consider  in  the  late 
teens  and  early  twenties.  Our  sex-education  system 
will  not  be  completely  organized  until  we  find  ways 
and  means  for  carrying  the  instruction  by  lectures, 
conferences,  and  books  beyond  the  years  commonly 
occupied  by  public-school  education.  Colleges  and 
other  higher  educational  institutions  may  con  tribute 
somewhat  to  this  advanced  sex-instruction;  but 
obviously  the  great  majority  of  maturing  young 
people  cannot  be  reached  personally  except  by 
instruction  arranged  in  churches,  the  Y.M.C.A., 
and  the  Y.W.C.A.,  evening  schools,  and  other 


THE   MEANING,   NEED,   AND   SCOPE  2J 

such  institutions.  In  many  respects  this  proposed 
instruction  for  maturing  young  people  is  of  very 
great  importance  and  deserves  encouragement  such 
as  has  not  yet  been  given  by  those  who  have  written 
and  lectured  in  favor  of  a  movement  for  sex-educa- 
tion of  young  people. 

In  conclusion  of  this  introductory  lecture,  let  me 
say  that  I  have  tried  to  suggest  in  a  general  survey 
that  sex-education  in  its  largest  outlook  touches 
great  problems  of  life  in  very  many  ways.  I  have 
also  tried  to  convince  that  it  is  far  more  than  merely 
a  school  subject,  limited  entirely  to  a  curriculum 
extended  over  a  few  years.  This  is  the  common 
misunderstanding  arising  from  the  familiar  use  of 
the  word  "education."  As  opposed  to  this  narrow 
conception,  I  understand  sex-education,  the  larger 
sex-education,  to  be  a  collective  term  f^^g^ 
designating  all  organized  effort,  both  in  sex-educa- 
and  out  of  schools,  toward  instructing 
and  influencing  young  people  with  regard  to  the 
problems  of  sex.  Here  we  have  returned  to  the 
central  thought  of  the  definition  with  which  this 
lecture  opened,  and  which  I  emphasize  because  it 
is  the  foundation  of  all  future  lectures :  The  larger 
sex-education  includes  all  scientific,  ethical,  social, 
and  religious  instruction  and  influence  which  in 
any  way  may  help  young  people  prepare  to  meet  the 
problems  of  life  in  relation  to  sex. 


n 

THE  PROBLEMS  FOR  SEX-EDUCATION 

§  5.  Sex  Problems  and  the  Need  of  Special  Knowledge 

In  these  lectures  I  shall  discuss  the  great  sex  prob- 
lems towards  the  solution  of  which  knowledge  con- 
Arguments  veved  by  special  education  may  help, 
for  s«-  These  problems  offer  reasons  or  argu- 
e  uca  on.  men^s  m  favor  of  sex-education,  and  I 
shall  attempt  to  present  them  from  this  point  of 
view.  I  shall  at  the  same  time  point  out  hi  prelim- 
inary outline  how  organized  instruction  may  apply 
more  or  less  directly  to  the  sex  problems  that  seem 
to  show  the  need  of  educational  attack,  but  in  later 
lectures  the  organization  of  instruction  will  be  con- 
sidered more  specifically. 

In  reviewing  the  literature  that  during  the  past 
decade  has  advocated  sex-education,  it  has  seemed 
Propagan-  ^°  me  ^na^-  there  *s  ^e^  little  possibility  of 
dism  any  decidedly  new  and  important  con- 

e  '  tribution  to  the  arguments  favoring  such 
instruction,  for  the  whole  case  has  been  splendidly 
presented  by  eminent  writers  in  the  fields  of  medi- 
cine, biology,  sociology,  and  ethics.  It  now  ap- 
pears that  the  great  majority  of  educators,  scientists, 
and  intelligent  citizens  in  general  have  accepted  the 
28 


THE   PROBLEMS  FOR  SEX-EDUCATION  2Q 

arguments  for  sex-instruction,  so  far  as  they  have 
been  informed  concerning  the  meaning  and  need  of 
the  movement ;  and  this  leads  me  to  the  belief  that 
in  the  future  we  need  not  new  arguments  but  fre- 
quent restatements  of  the  established  facts  which 
indicate  the  importance  of  widespread  knowledge 
regarding  the  function  that  is  inseparably  connected 
with  the  perpetuation  of  life.  In  short,  we  now 
need  a  propagandism  for  extending  the  sex-education 
movement  among  the  masses  of  people. 

For  those  who  have  already  accepted  sex-educa- 
tion, a  survey  of  the  facts  that  created  a  demand  for 
sex-instruction  will  give  a  clearer  outlook  on  the 
movement.  The  rapid  increase  of  interest  in  sex- 
education  has  been  the  result  of  widespread  dissemi- 
nation of  convincing  facts  concerning  some  common 
disharmonies  that  grow  out  of  the  sexual  problems 
of  the  human  race.  These  facts  which  have  led  to 
sex-education  should  be  kept  in  mind  by  all  who 
wish  to  understand  or  to  play  a  part  in  the  instruction 
of  young  people. 

It  is  quite  unnecessary,  and  still  more  undesirable, 
to  recite  at  length  in  these  lectures  the  social,  medical, 
and  psycho-pathological  facts  concerning  abnormal 
or  perverted  sexual  processes.  Fortunately,  the 
educational  ends  may  be  gained  by  a  general  review 
that  points  out  the  bearings  of  the  main  lines  of  the 
sexual  problems,  the  misunderstandings  and  mis- 
takes that  education  may  help  prevent  and  correct. 

It  is  important  that  the  general  public,  especially 
the  parents,  should  understand  the  reasons  which 


3O  SEX-EDUCATION 

have  induced  numerous  physicians,  ministers,  and 
educators  to  become  active  advocates  of  systematic 
sex-instruction  for  young  people.  Although  the 
Parents  movement  has  made  extensive  progress 

should  know  m  fae  ten  years  of  propagandic  work, 
reasons  for  .  .  .  . 

sex-instruc-    it  is  probably   true  that  the   majority 

tion.  of  even  intelligent  parents  are  not  yet 

convinced  that  their  children  need  sex-instruction. 
This  is  due  largely  to  the  fact  that  the  parents 
have  not  yet  been  shown  the  reasons  why  it  is  now, 
and  always  has  been,  unsafe  to  allow  children  to  gain 
more  or  less  sexual  information  from  unreliable 
and  vulgar  sources.  In  fact,  it  is  surprising  to  find 
many  parents,  especially  mothers,  who  seem  unable 
to  grasp  the  idea  that  their  "protected"  children 
can  possibly  get  impure  information. 

There  are  other  parents  who  know  that  their  chil- 
dren are  almost  sure  to  get  vulgar  information  re- 
garding sexual  matters,  and  that  some  young  people 
are  likely  to  make  sexual  mistakes;  but  they 
calmly  look  upon  such  things  as  part  of  the  estab- 
lished order  of  the  world. 

Still  another  type  of  parents  who  should  know 
the  reasons  for  sex-instruction  are  those  who  accept 
the  traditional  idea  that  their  daughters  must 
be  kept  "protected"  and  "innocent"  while  their 
sons  are  free  to  sow  a  large  field  of  "wild  oats,"  con- 
cerning which  society  in  general,  and  such  parents  in 
particular,  will  care  little  as  long  as  social  diseases, 
bastardy  suits,  or  chronic  alcoholism  do  not  result 
from  the  dissipations.  These  are  the  fathers  and 


THE   PROBLEMS   FOR   SEX-EDUCATION  31 

mothers  who  need  the  most  enlightenment  concern- 
ing the  importance  of  such  sex-instruction  as  will 
make  clear  the  far-reaching  consequences  of  "wild 
oat  sowing."  Perhaps  most  such  parents  are  igno- 
rant, but  some  are  simply  thoughtless.  As  an 
illustration  of  the  latter,  the  editor  of  a  well-known 
magazine  was  recently  talking  with  a  prominent 
author  and  made  some  reference  to  the  immoral 
habits  of  young  men.  Their  conversation  was  es- 
sentially as  follows:  The  author  remarked,  "I 
assume  that  my  boys  will  be  boys  and  will  have  their 
fling  before  they  settle  down  and  marry."  The 
editor  quickly  replied,  "Yes,  and  I  presume  that 
you  expect  your  boys  to  sow  their  wild  oats  with  my 
daughters,  and  that  in  return  you  will  expect  my 
sons  to  dissipate  with  your  daughters.  At  any 
rate,  you  have  damnable  designs  on  somebody's 
daughters."  This  put  on  the  wild-oat  proposition 
a  light  which  was  apparently  new  to  the  literary 
man,  for  he  replied,  "That  is  a  phase  of  the  young 
man's  problem  which  never  occurred  to  me.  It  does 
sound  startling  when  stated  in  that  personal  way." 

All  these  classes  of  parents  who  have  not  yet 
learned  the  facts  which  point  to  ignorance  as  the 
cause  of  the  abundant  sexual  errors  of  young  people 
and  those  who  do  not  understand  that  sexual 
promiscuity  or  immorality  is  an  error  of  gravest 
significance  both  to  the  individual  and  to  society, 
should  have  set  before  them  time  and  again  some  of 
the  startling  facts  which  in  the  first  five  years  of  the 
American  sex-education  movement  were  promul- 


32  SEX-EDUCATION 

gated  among  physicians,  ministers,  and  educators. 
All  such  ignorant  or  indifferent  parents  will  not  take 
an  interest  in  the  proposed  sex-instruction  unless 
they  are  convinced  by  frank  and  forcible  statements 
regarding  the  great  need  of  special  safeguarding  of 
young  people. 

Since  there  are  so  many  people  who  still  need  the 
most  elementary  knowledge  concerning  the  sexual 
Special  as-  problems  that  demand  educational 
sedations  attack,  it  is  important  that  there 
should  be  local  associations  which  can 
manage  lectures,  publications,  conferences,  and  other 
means  of  informing  the  public  as  to  the  gravity  of 
the  sexual  problems  of  our  times,  and  as  to  the  part 
which  sex-instruction  may  play  in  the  attempt  at 
finding  a  solution.  Such  work  is  now  being  done 
splendidly  by  the  societies  named  in  §  5 1.  The  mag- 
nitude of  the  problem  of  reaching  the  public  is  such 
that  there  is  abundant  work  for  numerous  branches 
of  such  societies  or  for  local  groups  willing  to  take 
a  part  in  the  needed  work.  As  suggested  elsewhere, 
the  success  of  the  movement  for  sex-instruction  of 
children  of  school  ages  will  depend  largely  upon  the 
attitude  and  cooperation  of  parents ;  and  hence  it  is 
important  that  parents  should  be  led  to  understand 
the  reasons  or  arguments  for  sex-instruction.  In 
other  words,  they  should  know  the  problems  that 
indicate  the  importance  of  enlightening  the  rising 
generation  concerning  the  great  facts  of  sex  and  life. 

Among  the  numerous  publications  that  seem  to 
me  adapted  for  convincing  parents  that  their  chil- 


THE   PROBLEMS   FOR   SEX-EDUCATION  33 

dren  need  instruction,   I  commonly  mention  the 
following:  Lowry's  "False  Modesty"  and  "Teach- 
ing Sex  Hygiene,"  Howard's  "Start  your  Books  for 
Child  Right,"  Wile's  "Sex  Education,"  parents. 
Galloway's  "Biology  of  Sex,"  March's  "Towards 
Racial  Health,"  Lyttleton's  "Training  of  the  Young 
in  Laws  of  Sex,"  and  pamphlets  by  Dr.  Prince 
Morrow.     See  also  pages  241-243. 

There  are  eight  important  sex  problems  of  our 
times   that   offer   reasons   or   arguments   for   sex- 
instruction,    because    ignorance     plays  Knowledge 
a  large  part  in  each  problem.    I  shall  needed 

i    •   n     i  11-  i     concerning 

state  them  briefly  here  and  discuss  each  ejght  sex 
in  succeeding  lectures:  (i)  Many  peo-  problems, 
pie,  expecially  in  youth,  need  hygienic  knowledge 
concerning  sexual  processes  as  they  affect  personal 
health.  (2)  There  is  an  alarming  amount  of  the 
dangerous  social  diseases  which  are  distributed 
chiefly  by  the  sexual  promiscuity  or  immorality  of 
many  men.  (3)  The  uncontrolled  sexual  passions  of 
men  have  led  to  enormous  development  of  organized 
and  commercialized  prostitution.  (4)  There  are 
living  to-day  tens  of  thousands  of  unmarried  mothers 
and  illegitimate  children,  the  result  of  the  common 
sexual  irresponsibility  of  men  and  the  ignorance 
of  women.  (5)  There  is  need  of  more  general 
following  of  a  definite  moral  standard  regarding 
sexual  relationships.  (6)  There  is  a  prevailing 
unwholesome  attitude  of  mind  concerning  all 
sexual  processes.  (7)  There  is  very  general  mis- 
understanding of  sexual  life  as  related  to  healthy 


34  SEX-EDUCATION 

and  happy  marriage.  (8)  There  is  need  of  eugenic 
responsibility  for  sexual  actions  that  concern  future 
generations. 

Here  are  the  eight  sexual  problems  of  our  times. 
Any  one  of  them  has  significance  great  enough  to 
demand  the  attention  of  educators  and  social  re- 
formers. One  and  all  they  point  to  the  need  of 
better  understanding  regarding  the  sexual  functions 
and  their  relation  to  life.  I  shall  now  turn  to  out- 
line the  main  facts  concerning  each  of  these  sexual 
problems  so  far  as  it  seems  likely  that  they  will 
concern  educators  and  social  workers.  For  con- 
venience I  shall  use  the  following  brief  headings: 
(i)  Personal  sex-hygiene,  (2)  social  diseases, 
(3)  social  evil,  (4)  illegitimacy,  (5)  sexual  morality, 
(6)  sexual  vulgarity,  (7)  sexual  problems  and 
marriage,  (8)  eugenics. 

These  sexual  problems  toward  whose  solution 
special  instruction  of  young  people  may  help  are 
Historical  stated  here  in  the  order  in  which  they 
order.  have  attracted  attention  as  reasons  for 

sex-education.  Thus,  for  instance,  personal  sex- 
hygiene  was  the  chief  reason  recognized  twenty 
years  ago;  social  diseases  began  to  attract  public 
attention  ten  years  ago;  commercial  prostitution 
has  been  especially  prominent  in  the  discussions  of 
the  past  five  years;  and  only  recently  has  there 
been  emphasis  on  sex-education  with  reference  to 
eugenics. 

The  historical  order  which  I  follow  in  this  lecture 
is  not  now  the  order  of  greatest  importance.  For 


THE   PROBLEMS  FOR   SEX-EDUCATION  35 

example,  sexual  morality  (5)  and  vulgarity  (6)  are 
probably  of  far  greater  significance  than  any  of  the 
other  sexual  problems  that  offer  arguments  for  sex- 
education. 

To  avoid  possible  misunderstanding,  let  me  repeat 
from  the  first  lecture  the  proposition  that  sex- 
education  should  extend  in  home  and 

,.,111  •  T  **Ot  *"  SCX 

school  from  childhood  to  maturity.     It  problems 
follows   that   these  lectures  concerning  concern 
the  problems  of  sex  that  seriously  affect 
the  human  race  are  not  all  applicable  as  arguments 
for  instruction  in  schools  or  for  children  of  school 
age.     Some  of  the  problems  of  sex  point  to  the 
need  of  special  instruction  hi  pre-adolescent  or  in 
adolescent  years,  but  some  of  them  concern  directly 
only  those  who  are  approaching  maturity. 

§  6.   First   Problem  for   Sex-instruction:     Personal 
Sex-hygiene 

It  is  convenient  to  group  under  personal  sex- 
hygiene  all  hygienic  knowledge  concerning  sexual 
processes   in    their   personal   as   distin-  personai 
guished  from  their  social  aspects.    The  and  social 
distinction  between  these  two  aspects  of     ygiene- 
sex-hygiene  is  essentially  on  the  same  basis  as  that 
between  personal  and  public  hygiene.     For  example, 
indigestion  and  overwork  are  matters  of  personal 
hygiene,  while  tuberculosis  and  typhoid  are  problems 
of  public  hygiene  because  the  individual  case  leads 
through  infection  to  disease  of  others.     Similarly, 
such    individual    disorders    as    masturbation    and 


36  SEX-EDUCATION 

deranged  menstruation  concern  personal  health 
directly,  while  venereal  diseases  are  clearly  included 
in  social  sex-hygiene. 

If  there  were  no  other  reasons  for  sex-instruction,  I 
believe  that  it  would  be  worth  while  to  teach  such 
Personal  hygienic  knowledge  of  self  and  sex  as 
sex-hygiene  would  guard  young  people  against  harm- 
ful habits  and  unhealthful  care  of  their 
sexual  mechanisms;  and  which,  moreover,  would 
guide  them  across  the  threshold  of  adolescence 
with  some  helpful  understanding  of  the  significance 
of  the  metamorphosis.  Many  men  and  women 
suffer  from  injured,  if  not  ruined,  health  because 
they  did  not  know,  especially  between  ten  and  four- 
teen years,  the  laws  of  personal  sex-hygiene,  which 
concern  health  in  ways  not  involving  sexual  relation- 
ship. Many  boys  and  some  girls  are  injured  both 
physically  and  mentally  by  the  habit  of  masturba- 
tion. Numerous  girls  are  injured  physically  and 
many  mentally  because  they  have  not  learned  in 
advance  the  nature  and  hygiene  of  menstruation. 
Many  boys  are  injured  both  in  mind  and  character 
because  they  have  no  scientific  guidance  which  helps 
them  understand  themselves  during  the  stormy 
transition  from  youth  into  manhood.  Moreover, 
there  are  certain  simple  hygienic  commands  that 
children  under  twelve  should  receive  from  parents  and 
teachers.  In  all  these  lines  the  bearings  of  personal 
hygienic  instruction  are  so  obvious  that  we  need  not 
at  this  time  stop  to  consider  in  more  detail  this  first 
reason  or  problem  for  sex-instruction  of  young  people. 


THE   PROBLEMS   FOR    SEX-EDUCATION  37 

§  7.  Second  Problem  for  Sex-instruction:  Social 
Diseases 

During  the  past  decade  the  general  public  has 
received  some  astounding  revelations  concerning 

the  enormous  extent  of  illicit  sexual  pro- 

.....  ..  j.  Recentpub- 

miscuity,  which  is  immorality  according  iicity  regard- 
to  our  commonly  accepted  code  of  ing  vice  and 

,  .  ,      ,  .  ,  disease, 

morals.    Along  with  the  evidence  as  to 

the  existence  of  widespread  promiscuity,  has  come 
the  still  more  alarming  information  from  the  medical 
profession  that  sexual  promiscuity  commonly  dis- 
tributes the  germs  of  the  two  highly  infectious  and 
exceedingly  destructive  diseases,  syphilis  and  gonor- 
rhea, known  in  medical  science  as  venereal  or  social. 
When  these  are  acquired  by  individuals  guilty  of  sex- 
ual promiscuity,  they  seriously  and  often  fatally  affect 
the  victim ;  but  of  far  greater  social-hygienic  impor- 
tance is  the  medical  evidence  that  they  are  very  often 
transmitted  to  persons  innocent  of  any  transgression 
of  the  moral  law,  especially  to  wives  and  children. 

The  medical  revelations  concerning  the  relation  of 
sexual  immorality  to  the  plague  of  social  diseases, 
has  come  from  certain  eminent  physicians,  notably 
the  late  Dr.  Prince  A.  Morrow.  His  translation  of 
Fournier's  " Syphilis  and  Marriage"  (1881),  his  own 
"Social  Diseases  and  Marriage"  (1904),  and  sev- 
eral of  his  pamphlets  published  by  the  American 
Society  of  Sanitary  and  Moral  Prophylaxis,  have 
been  authoritative  statements  of  conditions  as  the 
medical  world  sees  them. 


38  SEX-EDUCATION 

The  extent  of  social  diseases  is  a  fairly  accurate 
measure  of   the  minimum  amount  of  immorality, 

for  nothing  is  better  established  in 
Social  ....  . 

diseases        medical  science  than  that  promiscuity  in 

andim-          sexual  relations  is  directly  or  indirectly 

morality.  ,  , 

responsible  for  spread  of  the  micro- 
organisms which  cause  the  diseases.  If  for  several 
generations  all  men  and  women  limited  their  sexual 
relations  to  monogamic  marriage,  and  the  relatively 
rare  cases  of  non-sexual  and  prenatal  infection  were 
treated  so  as  to  render  them  non-contagious,  the 
social  diseases  would  probably  disappear  from  the 
human  family.  Such  a  statement  is  significant  only 
in  showing  the  relation  of  social  diseases  to  sexual 
promiscuity,  for  of  course,  there  is  no  reasonable 
hope  that  the  venereal  germs  will  ever  be  anni- 
hilated by  universal  monogamy. 

Reduction  of  the  amount  of  venereal  disease  must 
depend   upon  (i)  hygienic   and    moral    education 

which   will   lead   people   to   avoid    the 
Attack  by  ...... 

education       sources   of   infection   and    (2)    sanitary 

and  sanita-     an(j  medical  science  which  works  either 
turn.  . 

by  applying  antiseptic  or  other  prophy- 
lactic methods  for  preventing  development  of  the 
causative  microorganisms,  or  by  using  germicides 
for  destroying  those  germs  which  have  already 
produced  disease.  Thus  the  educational  and  the 
sanitary  attack  on  the  social  diseases  lie  parallel. 
Both  are  needed,  for,  even  with  all  the  possible 
methods  of  attack,  the  progress  against  these 
diseases  will  be  exceedingly  slow. 


THE   PROBLEMS   FOR    SEX-EDUCATION  39 

Those  who  are  interested  in  the  facts  relating  to 
social  diseases  which  point  to  the  need  of  sex-educa- 
tion as  one  method  of  prevention,  are  referred  to 
the  pamphlets  published  by  the  American  Society  of 
Sanitary  and  Moral  Prophylaxis;  Morrow's  "Social 
Diseases  and  Marriage";  Creighton's  "The  Social 
Disease  and  How  to  Fight  It";  Dock's  "Hygiene 
and  Morality";  Henderson's  "Education  with 
Reference  to  Sex";  and  certain  chapters  in  War- 
basse's  "Medical  Sociology." 

With  regard  to  the  accuracy  of  the  commonly 
quoted  statements  concerning  the  prevalence  of 
social  disease,  and  therefore  of  immo-  Estimated 
rality,  it  must  be  said  in  all  fairness  amount  of 
that  there  has  been  much  guesswork  d 
and  some  deliberate  exaggeration.  We  learn  from 
various  books  and  lectures  that  fifty,  sixty-five, 
seventy-five  and  even  ninety  per  cent  of  the  men  in 
the  United  States  over  eighteen  years  of  age  are  at 
some  time  infected  with  at  least  one  of  the  social 
diseases.  The  fact  is  that  there  is  no  scientific 
way  of  getting  accurate  statistics,  for  unlike  other 
contagious  diseases,  the  venereal  ones  are  kept  more 
or  less  secret,  and  numerous  cases  cannot  be  dis- 
covered by  health  officers.  All  the  published  figures 
regarding  the  prevalence  of  such  diseases  are  merely 
estimates  based  upon  the  experience  of  certain 
physicians  with  special  groups  of  men,  especially  in 
hospitals.  There  is  no  reliable  scientific  evidence 
as  to  the  prevalence  of  venereal  disease  in  the  whole 
mass  of  our  American  population. 


4O  SEX-EDUCATION 

However,  so  far  as  education  is  concerned,  there 
is  nothing  to  be  gained  by  dispute  as  to  the  possible 

inaccuracy  of  the  higher  percentages,1 
Education        ,      .    .       J        ..        .     .6 
not  con-         for  it  is  generally  admitted  that  probably 
cerned  with    over  fif  ty  per  cent  of  tne  men  m  America 
percentages.  . 

and     Europe     become     infected     with 

gonorrhea  or  syphilis,  or  both,  one  or  more  times 
during  their  lives,  especially  in  early  manhood. 
This  conservative  estimate  is  sufficient  to  show  that 
the  sexual  morals  of  probably  the  majority  of  men 
are  at  some  time  in  their  lives  loose.  There  is 
reason  to  believe  that  with  most  such  men  the 
period  of  moral  laxity  is  in  early  manhood  before 
marriage,  which,  though  not  excusable,  is  explainable 
on  physiological  grounds.  It  is  important  to  correct 
the  wrong  impression  which  is  now  widespread, 
especially  among  women  who  have  read  the  more  or 
less  sensational  statements  in  certain  books  and 
magazines,  that  the  quoted  figures  on  social  disease 
mean  that  from  fifty  to  ninety  per  cent  of  all  men 
are  immoral  from  time  to  time  for  many  years.  If 
that  were  true,  the  situation  represented  by  the 
highest  estimates  would  be  hopeless,  and  we  might 
as  well  start  out  to  adjust  society  to  a  system  of 
recognized  sexual  promiscuity.  Fortunately,  it  is 
far  from  true,  for  a  great  many  men  included  in 

1  In  the  American  Journal  of  Public  Health  for  July,  1913,  Dr.  John 
S.  Fulton,  Director  General  of  the  XV  International  Congress  on 
Hygiene  and  Demography,  criticized  severely  the  extremely  radical 
statistics  that  were  presented  on  charts  at  the  sex-hygiene  exhibit 
of  the  Congress,  and  were  later  published  in  Wilson's  "Education  of 
the  Young  in  Sex-hygiene." 


THE   PROBLEMS  FOR   SEX-EDUCATION  41 

even  the  conservative  statistics  of  social  disease 
were  infected  because  they  strayed  from  the  moral 
path  very  few  times  and  in  many  cases  only  once. 
This  fact  makes  the  outlook  for  improved  sexual 
morals  and  health  more  hopeful,  for  probably  the 
majority  of  young  men  need  help  in  controlling 
themselves  for  a  few  years  only,  especially  between 
eighteen  and  twenty-five.1 

The  reports  of  medical  men  regarding  the  dam- 
age done  by  the  social  diseases  are  inaccurate 
chiefly  when  they  attempt  to  state  per-  Established 
centages  of  the  whole  population.  They  facts- 
are  reliable  when  they  state  observed  facts,  such 
as  the  following :  It  is  now  established  in  medical 
science  that  (i)  gonorrheal  infection  results  in 
tens  of  thousands  of  cases  in  complications,  such 
as  heart  disease,  gonorrheal  rheumatism,  sterility 
of  both  men  and  women,  blindness  of  infants,  in- 
flammatory diseases  of  female  reproductive  organs, 
and  other  well-marked  sequelae  of  the  disease; 
and  (2)  that  syphilis  is  responsible  for  a  large 
majority  of  cases  of  locomotor  ataxia,  paresis  and 
certain  types  of  insanity,  and  also  for  numerous 
aneurisms  of  arteries,  many  apoplexies,  and  much 
disease  of  liver,  kidneys,  and  other  organs.  More- 
over, syphilis  is  charged  with  being  the  greatest  race 
destroyer.  Fournier,  the  great  French  specialist, 

1  There  is  danger  in  quoting  to  young  men  the  estimates  as  to 
prevalence  of  social  diseases  and,  therefore,  of  promiscuity.  Fear  of 
consequences  will  not  control  one  who  is  led  to  believe  that  he  is 
doing  what  most  men  do.  (See  Parkinson  in  Educational  Review, 
Jan.  191 1,  pp.  44-46.) 


42  SEX-EDUCATION 

noted  that  only  two  children  survived  from  a  series 
of  ninety  pregnancies  of  syphilitic  women  of  the 
well-to-do  class.  It  is  probably  true  that  much  less 
than  ten  per  cent  of  syphilitized  embryos  ever  grow 
into  mature  men  and  women,  and  even  these  few 
survivors  are  likely  to  carry  in  their  bodies  the 
germs  or  the  "  virus  "  of  syphilis  which  may  affect 
the  next  generation. 

Such  direct  statements  as  the  above  may  be 
accepted  as  not  exaggerated.  However,  it  little 

matters  in  sex-education,  except  for  the 
Social  dis-  ,  .  ,  .  ,  , 

eases  ad-      purposes  of  sensational  writers,  whether 

mittedly  statistics  regarding  the  damage  done  by 
dangerous.  °  ° 

venereal  diseases  are  more  than  esti- 
mates; for  it  is  sufficient  to  remember  that  every 
physician  of  large  experience  agrees  that  syphilis 
and  gonorrhea  are  so  common  and  so  destructive 
of  health  and  life  that  they  must  be  classed  among 
the  most  dangerous  diseases  that  now  threaten 
the  human  race.  This  ought  to  be  sufficient  to 
attract  the  serious  attention  of  every  thinking  man 
and  woman. 

Thus,  hi  general  survey,  we  see  the  great  problems 
of  social-sexual  hygiene  caused  by  diseases  that 
Double  are  widely  distributed  because  sexual  in- 
standard  of  stincts  are  uncontrolled.  In  short,  the 
morality.  alarming  problem  of  the  social  diseases 
results  from  masculine  promiscuity  or  the  failure 
of  men  to  adhere  to  the  monogamic  standards  of 
morality.  In  other  and  familiar  phrasing,  there  is 
widespread  acceptance  and  practice  of  the  so-called 


THE  PROBLEMS   FOR   SEX-EDUCATION  43 

"double  standard  of  sexual  morality,"  a  monogamic 
one  for  respectable  women  and  promiscuity  for  many 
of  their  male  relatives  and  friends.  (See  writings 
of  Morrow,  especially  "The  Sex  Problem";  also 
Creighton's  "The  Social  Disease.") 

Our    brief    survey    of    the    hygienic    problems 
caused  by  sexual  promiscuity  and  its  characteristic 
diseases   is    sufficient    to   indicate   one  Qneprob- 
great  problem  for  sex-education.    Such  lem  for  s«- 
social-hygiene  problems  have  been  most  e 
responsible  for  the  recent  and  rapid  rise  of  the  move- 
ment for  sex-education,  and  they  must  be  recognized 
hi  any  adequate  scheme  for  instruction  of  young 
people. 

Can  scientific  education  hope  to  solve  the  sexual 
problems  of  society  by  inculcating  such  fear  of 
venereal  diseases  that  men  will  remain  Ig  gex 
true  to  the  monogamic  code  of  morality  ?  hygiene 
Many  cynical  disbelievers  in  sex-hygiene  a 
answer  this  question  negatively  by  asking  in  biblical 
phrase,  "Can  the  leopard  change  his  spots?"     In 
other    words,    these    doubting    ones    believe    that 
sexual  instincts  are  so  firmly  fixed  in  the  nature  of 
many  men  and  some  women  that  there  is  no  hope 
of    radical    change    through  education.1    There  is 
something  in  this  point  of  view.     It  is  probably 
true  that  even  the  most  radical  advocates  of  sex- 

1  Many  writers  have  discounted  the  value  of  warnings  involved 
in  sex-instruction  concerning  social  disease  (see  especially  Cabot's 
papers  referred  to  in  §  46,  and  Parkinson  in  Educational  Review, 
January,  1911). 


44  SEX-EDUCATION 

education  do  not  hope  to  secure  universal  monogamy 
and  consequent  disappearance  of  social  diseases.  A 
conservative  and  rational  answer  to  the  above  ques- 
tion whether  sex-education  can  solve  the  problem  of 
social  diseases,  is  that  a  large  percentage  of  even 
civilized  people  are  not  yet  ready  to  have  their  most 
powerful  instincts  controlled  by  scientific  knowl- 
edge. Hence,  there  is  no  hope  that  the  hygienic 
task  of  sex-education  will  be  finished  soon  after 
instruction  becomes  an  established  part  of  general 
education  in  homes  and  schools.  At  the  very  best 
there  will  be  incomplete  returns  for  the  social- 
hygienic  aspect  of  sex-instruction,  but  already  we 
know  for  a  certainty  that  enough  young  men  will  be 
influenced  to  make  the  teaching  justifiable.  I  feel 
sure  of  this  because  I  have  met  personally  many 
such  men  and  my  friends  know  many  more. 

According  to  the  investigations  made  by  Dr. 
Exner,  the  medical  secretary  of  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association,  a  great  reduction  of  venereal 
disease  has  followed  sex-hygienic  campaigns  in 
college  towns. 

In  another  way  hygienic  teaching  may  reduce  the 
amount  of  venereal  diseases,  and  that  is  by  leading 
Medical  infected  individuals  to  seek  thorough 
treatment,  medical  treatment  without  delay.  This, 
of  course,  will  render  the  diseased  person  non-in- 
fectious to  others.  Physicians  report  that  there  is 
now  a  marked  movement  in  this  direction  and, 
moreover,  that  many  infected  young  men  volun- 
tarily seek  medical  examinations  before  marriage. 


THE   PROBLEMS   FOR    SEX-EDUCATION  45 

Even  if  we  refuse  to  believe  that  social-hygienic 
teaching  will  protect  many  young  men  from  sexual 
diseases,  there  is  the  woman's  need  of  Woman>8 
information  to  be  considered.  As  said  need  of  in- 
before,  women  more  than  men  suffer  the 
consequences  of  venereal  infections.  Therefore, 
every  young  woman  who  considers  marriage  should 
know  the  possibility  of  danger  to  herself  and  her 
children,  and  be  able  to  decide  accordingly.  Of 
course,  even  with  much  knowledge  she  may  marry 
the  wrong  man,  for  correct  diagnosis  of  social 
disease  is  not  always  easy ;  but  if  her  confidence  is 
betrayed  and  she  becomes  infected,  she  ought 
to  know  the  importance  of  immediate  and  radical 
medical  treatment.  Let  me  illustrate  these  state- 
ments that  women  should  know  the  danger  of 
venereal  disease.  One  of  my  college  friends  neg- 
lected an  important  legal  case  to  travel  seven 
hundred  miles  in  order  to  tell  face  to  face  another 
college  friend  that  she  was  about  to  marry  a  danger- 
ous man.  Being  utterly  ignorant  of  the  existence 
of  sexual  diseases,  the  girl  and  her  mother  charac- 
terized my  friend's  statement  by  a  short  and  ugly 
word,  and  ordered  him  to  leave  their  home  instantly. 
The  marriage  occurred  and  some  months  later  the 
young  woman  went  to  her  grave,  a  victim  of  gonor- 
rheal  salpingitis  and  peritonitis. 

Another  case  which  illustrates  the  danger  of  a 
woman's  ignorance :  One  of  my  students  of  many 
years  ago  married  a  minister  who  infected  her  with 
syphilis  and  kept  her  from  medical  attention  until 


46  SEX-EDUCATION 

the  disease  was  in  a  highly  developed  stage,  and  even 
then  conspired  with  an  inefficient  doctor  to  keep  her 
ignorant  of  the  nature  of  the  disease. 

These  are  not  extreme  cases,  for  any  physician 
with  large  experience  knows  that  such  things  are 
The  right  to  common.  Medical  literature  is  full  of 
knowledge,  such  painful  recitals  of  venereal  trage- 
dies. It  is  not  desirable  that  all  young  women 
should  know  the  details  of  such  tragedies,  but  they 
should  know  that  dangers  exist.  Parents  and 
educators  will  not  have  done  their  duty  until  they 
cooperate  to  give  all  young  women  the  protective 
knowledge  they  have  a  right  to  demand.1 

There  is  another  way  of  looking  at  the  possible 
effect  of  the  social  side  of  sex-hygienic  instruction. 

It  is  sure  to  make  a  decided  impression 
musUead  *  uPon  many  young  people  of  the  type  that 

we  regard  as  the  best  in  every  way. 
These  will  be  the  leaders  of  the  future  and  they  in 
turn  will  help  improve  conditions.  Perhaps  it  may 
all  work  out  as  the  drug  problem  is  being  solved. 
Widespread  social  and  hygienic  information  regard- 
ing the  harmful  effect  of  alcohol,  cocaine,  opium, 
and  other  drugs  has  first  of  all  impressed  leading 
citizens ;  and  these  are  beginning  to  control  by  laws 
those  who  cannot  be  reached  directly  by  education. 
In  some  such  ways  those  who  are  impressed  by 

1  Louise  Creighton,  in  her  excellent  little  book  on  "The  Social 
Disease  and  How  to  Fight  It"  (Longmans),  has  well  presented  the 
problems  of  social  impurity  from  woman's  point  of  view. 

Dr.  W.  S.  Hall,  in  "Life's  Problems,"  has  given  in  a  few  pages 
the  necessary  protective  knowledge. 


THE   PROBLEMS   FOR   SEX-EDUCATION  47 

formal  sex-education  may  lend  a  hand  in  influencing 
many  who  could  not  be  touched  directly  by  hygienic 
education. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  public  enlightenment  re- 
garding the  dangers  of  social  diseases  will  soon  lead 
to  legislation  and  public  medical  work  Legislation 
which  will  contribute  greatly  towards  needed, 
reduction  of  the  diseases.  For  example,  legislation 
with  reference  to  venereal  disease  should  require 
doctors  to  report  cases  to  health  officers,  should 
forbid  "quack"  advertising  of  fake  "cures,"  should 
forbid  sale  by  drug  stores  of  nostrums  for  personal 
treatment,  should  provide  dispensaries  and  hospitals 
for  reliable  treatment  at  reasonable  cost,  should 
require  medical  examinations  for  marriage  licenses 
and  provide  for  such  examinations  at  moderate 
charges  or  at  public  expense,  should  require  certain 
sanitary  precautions  in  care  of  eyes  of  new-born 
infants,  and  should  provide  for  discovery  and  treat- 
ment of  congenital  syphilis  in  school  children.  These 
are  lines  in  which  good  laws  might  help  vastly  in  the 
war  against  the  social  diseases.  Moreover,  it  is  ob- 
vious that  all  laws  which  help  control  the  social  evil 
will  work  indirectly  against  the  social  diseases. 

In  conclusion,  it  seems  probable   that  popular 
knowledge   of  the   social   side  of  sex-hygiene  will 
reduce  the  amount  of  venereal  disease  p,.obabie 
(i)  by  teaching  some  people  the  dangers  results  of 
of  promiscuity,  (2)  by  adoption  of  certain  * 
sanitary  precautions  that  lessen  danger  of  infection, 
(3)  by  leading  people  to  seek  competent  medical  aid 


48  SEX-EDUCATION 

which,  while  often  failing  to  restore  the  victim's 
health,  will  probably  eliminate  the  danger  of  con- 
tagion for  others,  and  (4)  by  intelligent  support  of 
laws  that  directly  or  indirectly  affect  the  social 
diseases. 

I  have  given  great  prominence  to  the  social-sexual 
diseases  in  their  relation  to  sex-education  because 

along  this  line  there  has  been  developed 
Social  dis- 
eases not       the  widespread  interest  in  sex-mstruc- 


most  im-  ^jon  as  one  method  of  protecting  young 
people  against  promiscuity.  So  far  as 
the  questions  of  teaching  are  concerned,  my  personal 
view  is  that  some  of  the  other  reasons  or  problems 
for  sex-instruction  are  more  important,  because  I 
believe  that  educational  emphasis  on  them  will  give 
the  greatest  results  in  improved  sexual  conditions 
of  society. 

§  8.   Third  Problem  for  Sex-instruction:    the   Social 
Evil 

So  far  as  the  problems  of  sex-education  are  con- 
cerned, there  is  nothing  to  be  gained  by  an  extensive 
review  of  commercialized  prostitution.  It  is  gener- 
ally accepted  that  the  social  evil  or  prostitution 
is  increased  by  the  common  ignorance  of  young 
people  of  both  sexes  regarding  the  physical  and 
social  relations  of  sex. 

Of  course,  it  is  not  true  that  all  prostitution  is  due 
to  ignorance,  for  it  often  involves  enlightened  men 
and  women.  However,  there  seems  to  be  good 
reason  for  believing  that  large  numbers  of  people 


THE   PROBLEMS  FOR   SEX-EDUCATION  49 

of  both  sexes  might  be  kept  out  of  prostitution  by 
very  simple  sex-instruction.  Let  us  look  for  a 
moment  at  some  facts  concerning  the  relation  of 
the  ignorance  of  the  women  to  their  entrance  into 
the  underworld,  and  later  consider  certain  reasons 
why  many  men  patronize  the  social  evil. 

With  regard  to  the  women  victims  of  prostitution, 
it  seems  to  be  generally  accepted  that  economic 
pressure,  feeble-mindedness,  bad  social  whywomen 
environment,  and  unguided  instincts,  in-  enter  pros- 
dependently  or  combined,  are  the  chief  fatutlon- 
causes  of  their  downfall.  However,  there  is  a 
deeper  reason  why  numerous  women  enter  prostitu- 
tion, for  all  of  these  factors  commonly  operate 
because  of  inadequate  sexual  knowledge.  In  short, 
ignorance  is  the  fundamental  cause  of  much  prosti- 
tution on  the  part  of  women.  Many  a  girl  with 
starvation  wages,  bad  social  surroundings,  sub- 
normal mentality,  or  even  intense  instincts  is  able 
to  keep  her  womanhood  because  she  knows  the 
awful  dangers  of  sexual  promiscuity.  For  our 
present  educational  purposes,  it  is  sufficient  to  point 
out  the  opinion  of  competent  social  workers  that 
knowledge  might  often  counteract  the  forces  that 
lead  women  from  virtue  and  down  into  prostitution. 

A  large  number  of  men  patronize  prostitution 
because  they  are  ignorant  in  one  or  more  of  the 
following  respects.     Some  of  them  have  Men  also 
drifted    into    abnormal    sexual    habits  Utno1"4114- 
when  they  were  boys,  and  later  into  illicit  relations. 
Some  of  them  did  not  know  the  effect  of  alcoholic 


5<D  SEX-EDUCATION 

drinks  in  leading  many  young  men  to  their  first 
immoral  sexual  acts.  Some  of  them  have  de- 
liberately patronized  prostitution  because  they  have 
accepted  as  truth  the  monstrous  lie  that  sexual 
activity  is  necessary  to  preserve  the  health  of  men.1 
Most  of  the  men  do  not  realize  that  prostitution 
offers  great  danger  to  their  own  health,  still  greater 
danger  to  the  health  of  innocent  wives  and  children, 
and  a  greatly  shortened  life  for  many  women 
who  are  the  victims  of  sexual  slavery.  Most 
men  do  not  know  that  dark  tragedies  are  often 
concealed  beneath  the  apparent  gay  life  of  the 
women  who  are  victims  of  sexual  degradation. 
These  are  some  of  the  things  of  which  many  young 
men  I  have  known  were  very  ignorant,  and  it  has 
been  no  difficult  task  to  trace  a  close  connection 
between  their  ignorance  and  their  vice. 

Looking  at  the  social  evil  from  any  point  of  view, 
it  seems  to  me  that  ignorance,  dense  ignorance,  is 
Ignorance  largely  responsible  for  the  existence 
the  chief  of  that  darkest  blot  on  our  boasted 
civilization  —  the  social-sexual  evil. 
No  matter  how  we  look  at  the  established  facts 
regarding  prostitution,  they  all  point  to  the  need 
of  sexual  instruction  for  the  protection  of  the  youth 
of  both  sexes.  The  Chicago  Vice  Commission  con- 
cluded that  "the  lack  of  information,  education 
and  training  with  reference  to  the  function  and  con- 
trol of  the  sexual  instinct,  and  the  consequences  of 
its  abuse  and  perversion,  appears  at  every  point  of 
1  See  "The  Sexual  Necessity, "  by  Drs.  Howell  and  Keyes. 


THE   PROBLEMS   FOR    SEX-EDUCATION  $1 

our  inquiry  for  the  sources  of  the  supply  of  the 
victims  of  vice,  either  as  the  cause  of  the  perversion 
of  children  and  youth  or  as  a  complication  of  all 
other  causes." 1  Of  course,  we  dare  not  dream 
that  any  sex-instruction  that  now  seems  possible 
will  completely  eradicate  prostitution;  but  we  do 
know  of  thousands  of  boys  and  girls  who  have  been 
directed  to  safety  by  knowledge  of  some  funda- 
mental sexual  facts. 

Concerning  presentation  of  the  social  evil  by  fic- 
tion and  the  drama,  there  is  much  honest  disagree- 
ment. My  personal  opinion  is  that  little  s«  plays 
good  is  done  by  the  theater  or  by  such  and  novels, 
publications  as  Reginald  Kaufmann's  "House  of 
Bondage,"  and  Elizabeth  Robin's  "My  Little 
Sister."  They  all  leave  the  unsophisticated  reader 
with  an  exaggerated  and  even  hysterical  notion  that 
white  slavery  is  exceedingly  common  and  the  main 
cause  of  prostitution.  Certainly  the  great  majority 
of  the  army  of  prostitutes,  both  public  and  clandes- 
tine, in  America,  and  a  still  higher  percentage  on  the 
continent  of  Europe,  did  not  become  novitiates  of 
vice  in  prisons  of  prostitution. 

It  seems  to  me  that  a  very  limited  reading  re- 
garding the  social  evil  is  sufficient  for  one  who  is 
not  engaged  in  medical  or  social  work  Limited 
that  requires  scientific  knowledge  of  this  reading 
darkest  side  of  human  life.    Certainly,  desirable- 
the   indiscriminate   reading  of   vice   investigations 
is  dangerous  for  many  young  people,  —  for  young 
1  See  also,  Henderson's  "  Education  with  Reference  to  Sex." 


52  SEX-EDUCATION 

men  because  some  of  them  are  allured  into  personal 
investigations,  and  for  young  women  because 
they  get  an  exaggerated  and  pessimistic  view  of 
all  sexual  problems.  For  the  intelligent  reader 
who  wants  the  general  information  that  every 
public-spirited  citizen  should  have,  the  well-known 
book  by  Jane  Addams  will  serve  both  as  an  out- 
line and  an  encyclopedia  of  the  social  evil.  Social 
workers  and  some  educators  will  find  use  for  the 
other  books  mentioned  below. 

Jane  Addams.  —  "A  New  Conscience  and  an  Ancient  Evil." 
(Macmillan). 

Seligman,  E.  R.  A.  (Editor).  — "The  Social  Evil."  (Put- 
nam.) Contains  bibliography  on  the  subject. 

Sumner,  Dean  W.  T.,  and  others.  — "The  Social  Evil  in  Chi- 
cago." Vice-Commission  Report,  1911.  Now  published  by 
the  American  Social  Hygiene  Association.  The  "  introduc- 
tion and  summary"  (pp.  25-47)  deserves  careful  reading. 

Cocks,  O.  G.  —  "The  Social  Evil"  (Association  Press). 

"  Vigilance,"a  journal  devoted  to  attacking  the  social  evil,  has 

been  discontinued  and  replaced  by  bulletins  of  the  American 

Social  Hygiene  Association,  105  West  4oth  Street,  New  York  City. 

§  9.   The  Fourth  Problem  for  Sex-education: 
Illegitimacy 

Most  awful  of  all  the  results  of  the  sexual  mistakes 
of  men  and  women  are  the  unmarried  mothers  and 
Society  con-  their  illegitimate  children.  Of  course,  I 
demns  ffle-  know  that  there  are  well-meaning  people 
nacy'  who  argue  that  motherhood  is  the  supreme 
fact  and  that  the  formality  of  a  marriage  ceremony 
is  merely  a  medievalism  in  our  laws  and  customs ; 


THE  PROBLEMS  FOR   SEX-EDUCATION  53 

but  the  inexorable  truth  remains  that  our  modern 
social  system  is  centered  around  the  home  which 
is  strictly  regulated  by  church  and  state  and  public 
opinion.1  Whatever  may  be  the  philosophical 
rights  and  wrongs  of  individual  freedom  in  sexual 
relationship,  the  facts  of  practical  life  are  that  an 
overwhelming  majority  of  the  most  intelligent  people 
are  united  in  support  of  our  established  laws  and 
customs  demanding  legitimacy  of  motherhood  and 
birthright.  As  a  result  of  this  age-old  stand  for 
legitimacy,  illegitimate  mothers  and  children  do  not 
have  a  square  deal  at  the  bar  of  public  opinion. 
Everybody  knows  that  the  vast  majority  of  illegiti- 
mate children  do  not  have  a  fair  chance  in  the  world's 
work.  Professor  Cattell,  in  Science,  March,  1914, 
points  out  that  since  illegitimates  occur  one  in 
every  twenty-five  births  in  the  United  States,  and 
since  they  are  on  the  whole  equal  to  other  children 
in  mentality,  there  ought  to  be  forty  of  them  among 
the  thousand  leading  men  of  science  designated  in 
the  directory  of  the  "American  Men  of  Science;" 
but  none  are  known.  The  conclusion  must  be  that 
illegitimate  children  do  not  have  an  equal  chance 
at  education  which  leads  to  prominence  in  science. 
But  it  is  not  simply  a  matter  of  limited  education,  for 
in  every  way  the  fate  of  most  illegitimate  children 
is  usually  pitiful.  Only  now  and  then  one  born 
under  a  lucky  star  is  adopted  and  educated  by 
large-minded  foster  parents  who  recognize  that  the 

1  See  chapter  on    "  Motherhood  and   Marriage "  in  Foerster's 
"Marriage  and  the  Sex  Problem." 


54  SEX-EDUCATION 

illegitimate  is  not  responsible  for  having  come  into 
this  world  under  conditions  opposed  to  the  best 
interests  of  society. 

It  seems  to  be  generally  accepted  that  in  the  vast 
majority  of  cases,  unmarried  mothers  and  illegiti- 
Ignorance  mate  children  are  due  to  ignorance  of  the 
the  cause.  women.  Women  who  are  professionally 
immoral  do  not  bear  many  children.1  In  fact,  ex- 
cepting the  feeble-minded  prostitutes,  the  general  rule 
is  that  those  who  are  mothers  have  only  one  child 
and  that  one  the  result  of  the  first  sexual  errors.  It 
is  a  safe  general  conclusion  that  ignorance  of  sexual 
laws  is  responsible  for  the  great  majority  of  cases  of 
illegitimacy. 

Edith  Livingston  Smith,  of  Boston,  in  an  article 
on  "Unmarried  Mothers"  in  Harper's  Weekly  for 
September  6,  1913,  expressed  views  of  the  causes  of 
illegitimacy  that  many  a  social  worker  will  indorse 
heartily : 

"I  see  shop  girls  and  waitresses,  factory  girls  and 
maids,  chorus  girls,  stenographers,  and  governesses, 
each  with  a  different  story,  each  with  the  same  terror 
of  the  consequences  of  their  folly.  'I  never  knew,' 
they  tell  me,  'I  never  knew  there  were  such  tempta- 
tions.' .  .  . 

"Let  us  go  back  to  the  question  of  sex-education  of 
the  public.  Silence  has  been  the  policy  in  the  past. 
We  have  taught  our  children  biology  and  natural 
history,  we  have  taught  them  physiology,  carefully 

1  As  an  illustration  of  this  fact,  out  of  558  Pittsburgh  professional 
prostitutes,  406  had  never  had  children.  Of  the  152  who  were 
mothers,  only  24  had  two  or  more  children. 


THE  PROBLEMS  FOR   SEX-EDUCATION  55 

ignoring  the  organs  of  reproduction;  we  have 
warned  the  young  to  make  use  of  their  senses  and 
their  brains,  but  we  have  refused  to  recognize  the 
very  force  that  guides  all  these  instincts,  the  vital 
power  of  sex.  Yet,  in  the  face  of  this  stupidity, 
acknowledging  the  call  of  the  age,  girls  are  sent 
out  into  the  industrial  world,  where  they  fight 
shoulder  to  shoulder  with  men.  Here  they  find  po- 
tential worth  of  their  individualities;  here  they 
meet  with  the  same  —  no,  greater  —  temptation 
than  their  brothers,  but  with  no  knowledge  to  guide 
them,  no  traditions  to  give  them  poise,  no  ameliorat- 
ing factor  of  social  tenderness  or  tolerance  when 
inexperience  fails  to  temper  their  emotions  and  their 
femininity.  .  .  . 

"A  girl's  protection  must  come  from  without,  a 
boy's  from  within.  Every  boy  who  reaches  the 
age  of  adolescence  knows  his  nature.  It  asserts 
itself.  His  sex  instincts  are  dominant,  aggressive. 
He  is  man,  the  father  of  the  race,  and  the  laws  of 
procreation  are  to  him  an  open  book.  A  girl  stays 
innocent  until  she  is  awakened.  It  is  the  kiss,  the 
touch,  the  senses  stirred,  that  make  her,  in  the  glory 
of  her  womanhood  or  in  her  shame,  acknowledge 
her  sex. 

"The  very  frailty  of  such  a  girl,  her  dependence 
upon  her  intuitions  and  emotions,  the  triumph  of 
feeling  over  intellect,  place  her  in  greater  danger 
than  her  brothers,  even  were  their  responsibility 
to  society  the  same.  But,  add  to  this  the  fact 
that  in  yielding  to  sexual  temptation  she  has  the 
burden  of  child-bearing  —  how  much  more  nec- 
essary that  she  should  have  some  knowledge  of 
what  she  is  to  meet  in  the  world,  or  what  she 
must  combat,  lest  her  emotions  forestall  her  in- 
telligence as  physical  development  precedes  mental 
appreciation." 


56  SEX-EDUCATION 

Illegitimacy  is  often  due  to  ignorance  of  men  as 
well  as  of  women.  Prominent  physicians  have 
Men  also  cited  from  their  notebooks  cases  of  "  pro- 
ignorant,  tected  "  children  in  early  adolescence  who 
instinctively  entered  into  sexual  relationship  in 
utter  ignorance  of  the  natural  result.  Such  cases 
where  the  boy  is  entirely  ignorant  must  be  very 
rare ;  but  there  are  probably  many  boys  who  do  not 
really  understand  that  the  sexual  act  is  very  likely 
to  lead  to  a  ruined  life  for  the  girl  companion  and 
her  offspring.  Arthur  Donnithorne,  in  "Adam 
Bede,"  did  not  forecast  that  his  act  would  lead  to 
the  ruin  of  Hetty  Sorrel  and  her  condemnation  for 
infanticide. 

It  is  obvious  that  something  more  than  the  or- 
dinary biological  facts  of  reproduction  must  be  in- 
More  than  cmded  in  sex-instruction  that  tries  to 
biology  prevent  such  tragedies.  In  another 
lecture  we  shall  consider  moral  teaching, 
but  here  let  us  look  at  the  cold  facts  of  life  that  ought 
to  be  taught  at  some  appropriate  time  to  young 
people.  Not  only  should  they  know  the  simple 
biological  probability  that  sexual  relationship  will 
lead  to  reproduction,  but  they  should  be  led  to 
consider  the  relentless  consequences  of  illegitimate 
propagation.  On  this  latter  point  general  literature, 
e.g.,  "Adam  Bede"  and  "The  Scarlet  Letter," 
teaches  some  impressive  lessons. 

Another  point  needs  emphasis  with  the  numerous 
young  people,  especially  men,  who  are  not  controlled 
by  moral  laws,  who  know  the  probabilities  of  illegiti- 


THE   PROBLEMS   FOR   SEX-EDUCATION  57 

macy  occurring,  but  who  have  acquired  the  popular 
impression  that  the  order  of  nature  is  easily  changed. 
Many  physicians  and  social  workers  know  girls 
who  have  gone  down  because  they  were  persuaded 
to  trust  the  efficiency  of  popular  ways  and  means 
of  avoiding  the  natural  outcome  of  the  sexual  act. 
Hence,  young  people  of  both  sexes  should  somehow 
learn  that  under  the  conditions  that  usually  attend 
illicit  union  there  is  always  a  strong  probability 
that  the  ways  of  nature  cannot  be  easily  circum- 
vented. It  is  unlawful  to  explain,  except  to  medical 
audiences,  why  this  is  so;  but  much  illegitimacy 
will  be  prevented  if  it  can  be  made  widely  known 
among  young  men  and  women  that,  according  to 
reliable  physicians,  tragedies  of  illegitimacy  are 
often  due  to  misplaced  confidence  in  popular  methods 
of  contraception. 

There  is  yet  another  line  of  information  that  if 
widely  known  might  have  some  bearing  on  the 
problem  of  illicit  sexual  relations :  Physi-  criminal 
cians  and  social  workers  report  that  many  operations, 
young  men  and  some  women  know  the  possibility 
of  illegitimate  pregnancy,  but  feel  safe  because  they 
know  the  addresses  of  doctors  and  midwives  who 
will  perform  criminal  operations.  The  great  danger 
of  the  operation,  especially  at  the  hands  of  such 
third-class  doctors  as  would  attempt  to  terminate 
pregnancy  criminally,  should  be  widely  known  by 
the  general  public,  which  only  now  and  then  gets  a 
hint  in  the  newspaper  reports  of  a  tragedy  involv- 
ing some  unfortunate  girl. 


58  SEX-EDUCATION 

There  is  the  widespread  misunderstanding  among 
young  men  that  sexual  hunger  is  as  insistent  in 

virtuous  young  women  as  in  themselves 
Relative  ,  ._ 

passion  of      and  that  therefore  illicit  gratification  is  a 

men  and        mutual  gain  and  responsibility.     Some 

W0men-  1.  -J     J    t.         ^        •     £ 

young  men  may  be  guided  by  the  infor- 
mation that  there  is  much  reliable  evidence  indicat- 
ing that,  while  an  innate  tendency  towards  general 
emotions  of  affection  is  strong  in  the  average  young 
woman,  there  is  general  absence  of  the  localized 
passions  that  naturally  and  automatically  develop 
in  young  men.  In  other  words,  the  first  definite 
sexual  temptation  is  likely  to  come  to  a  young  woman 
from  outside  herself,  and  young  men  should  be  im- 
pressed with  their  responsibility  for  allowing  even 
the  beginning  of  situations  that  may  arouse  dormant 
but  dangerous  instincts. 

§  10.   The  Fifth  Problem  for  Sex-education:  Sexual 
Morality 

In  this  lecture  I  shall  set  forth  the  proposition 
that  a  definitely  organized  scheme  of  education 
should  aim  directly  at  making  young  people  strict 
adherents  of  the  established  code  of  sexual  morality. 
For  brevity,  I  shall  occasionally  speak  of  morality 
and  immorality,  omitting  the  qualifying  word 
"sexual." 

This  lecture,  in  fact  this  entire  series  of  lectures 
on  sex-education,  is  based  on  the  fundamental 
proposition  that  sexual  morality  demands  that 


THE   PROBLEMS   FOR   SEX-EDUCATION  59 

sexual  union  be  restricted  to  monogamic  marriage, 
and  conversely,  that  such  sexual  relation  outside  of 
marriage  is  immoral.  Such  a  definition  Definition  of 
of  sexual  morality  is  accepted  by  church  sexual 
and  state  and  the  chief  citizens  in  every  * 
civilized  country.  It  is  the  only  practical  defini- 
tion which  is  satisfactory  to  the  vast  majority 
of  educated  American  men  and  women,  even  to 
those  who  believe  in  freedom  of  divorce  and  in 
forgiveness  for  youthful  transgressions  of  the  ac- 
cepted moral  code.  Sexual  morality  has  had 
changeable  standards,  and  in  other  times  and 
countries  custom  has  made  polygamy  and  promis- 
cuity acceptable  as  moral ;  but  the  monogamic  ideal 
of  morality  now  prevails  in  the  world's  best  life. 

Monogamic  morality  as  a  protection  for  family 
life  means  much  more  in  America  than  in  Europe. 
It  is  true  that  there  is  an  astounding  Morality  ia 
amount  of  prostitution  in  America,  but  America  and 
we  should  be  grateful  that  our  ideals  of  urope- 
the  monogamic  family  have  not  been  seriously  in- 
fluenced and  seem  to  be  slowly  but  surely  improving 
among  our  best  people.  As  illustrations  of  our 
adherence  to  monogamic  law,  let  me  give  some  facts 
for  comparison  of  America  and  continental  Europe. 
In  America,  illegitimate  births  are  not  accurately 
reported  but  are  probably  less  than  five  per  cent 
of  the  total  number  for  the  whole  country.  Lo- 
cally the  proportion  is  often  very  much  higher. 
Thus  in  Washington,  D.C.,  where  (1914)  over  ten 
thousand,  chiefly  negroes,  live  in  alleys  between 


6O  SEX-EDUCATION 

the  streets  and  under  extremely  unhygienic  and 
immoral  conditions,  fifty  per  cent  of  the  children  are 
illegitimate,  while  but  twenty  per  cent  of  the  colored 
children  born  of  mothers  living  outside  the  alleys, 
and  less  than  eleven  per  cent  of  the  total  born  of  all 
races  in  the  city  are  illegitimate.  In  various  small 
American  regions  with  a  white  population  the  pro- 
portion of  illegitimacy  is  astoundingly  high,  but  the 
average  for  the  entire  country  is  hopefully  low. 
In  many  German  towns  statistics  show  above 
twenty-five  per  cent,  and  in  the  whole  empire,  more 
than  half  the  legitimate  first-born  children  are  con- 
ceived before  marriage.  All  writers,  the  German  ones 
included,  seem  to  agree  that  the  majority  of  Teutonic 
men  and  women  enter  into  free  unions  before  marriage 
and  public  opinion  does  not  severely  condemn. 

In  many  rural  districts  of  England,  France,  and 
Sweden,  and  even  in  London  and  Paris,  a  large 
percentage  of  the  marriages  are  simply  legalization 
of  free  unions.  In  short,  in  all  these  countries  the 
monogamic  ideal  is  not  followed  by  a  large  per- 
centage of  people.  It  must  be  remembered  that  the 
great  majority  of  people  involved  in  the  above  figures 
are  of  the  peasant  and  laboring  classes ;  conditions 
are  quite  different  among  women  of  the  educated 
classes.  These  must  ultimately  set  the  moral  stand- 
ards for  the  masses. 

Our  American  conditions  are  quite  different,  es- 
pecially outside  of  the  large  cosmopolitan  cities. 
It  is  impossible  not  to  believe  in  the  moral  integrity 
of  the  great  majority  of  unmarried  women  in 


THE   PROBLEMS   FOR    SEX-EDUCATION  6l 

America.  Certainly  even  in  our  worst  communities 
we  have  no  such  general  immorality  of  women  as 
above  European  figures  suggest.  Perhaps  wholesale 
prostitution  in  which  one  public  woman  may 
be  the  mistress  of  ten,  twenty,  or  even  fifty  men, 
may  tend  to  protect  any  equal  number  of  Ameri- 
can women ;  whereas  in  Europe  a  peasant  woman 
would  probably  be  for  a  time  the  paramour  of  one 
man,  thus  tending  to  make  equal  numbers  of  im- 
moral men  and  women. 

However,  it  matters  nothing  for  our  present  pur- 
poses what  may  be  the  explanation  of  conditions  of 
sexual  promiscuity  here  or  abroad.  The  one  great 
fact  is  that  our  national  code  of  morality  is  a  mono- 
gamic  one,  approved  as  ideal  even  by  many  of  those 
who  fail  to  live  strictly  in  harmony  with  its  dictates. 
Hence,  all  Americans  who  are  prominently  interested 
in  sex-education  believe  that  it  should  aim  to  make 
our  young  people  more  ready  to  accept  and  under- 
stand morality  according  to  the  monogamic  ideal. 

Those  who  are  interested  in  this  problem  of 
morality  as  related  to  marriage  should  read  Foerster's 
"Marriage  and  the  Sex  Problem." 

Among  those  who  see  the  need  of  teaching  sex- 
ethics  as  a  part  of  the  larger  outlook  of  sex-education, 
there  are  two  points  of  view:   (i)  those  Reiationof 
who  favor   the    teaching   of   sex-ethics  sex-hygiene 
with  the  hope  of  preventing  the  hygienic  a 
problems  arising  from  immorality,  and  (2)  those  who 
believe  in  sexual  morality  for  its  own  sake  or  as  an 
accepted  code  of  conduct. 


62  SEX-EDUCATION 

The  founders  of  the  American  Society  for  Sani- 
tary and  Moral  Prophylaxis  placed  sanitation  first 
in  the  name  and  stated  in  the  constitution  that 
"the  object  of  this  Society  is  to  limit  the  spread  of 
diseases  which  have  their  origin  in  the  Social  Evil. 
It  proposes  to  study  every  means,  sanitary,  moral, 
and  administrative,  which  promise  to  be  most 
effective  for  this  purpose."  Most  of  the  papers  that 
have  been  read  at  the  meetings  of  the  Society  have 
emphasized  the  sanitary  aim  as  primary,  and  the 
moral  aim  as  a  means  to  the  hygienic  end;  but  hi 
the  past  three  years  there  has  been  a  decided 
tendency  towards  placing  emphasis  upon  morality, 
and  recently  the  executive  committee  of  the  Society 
voted  to  propose  the  following  revised  statement: 
"The  aim  of  this  Society  is  to  promote  the  appre- 
ciation of  the  sacredness  of  human  sexual  relation, 
and  thereby  to  minimize  the  moral  and  physical  evils 
resulting  from  ignorance  and  vice."  This  change 
of  emphasis  is  well  expressed  in  President  Keyes's 
report  to  the  Society  (Journal,  Vol.  V,  No.  i). 

As  to  the  relation  between  sex-hygiene  and  sex- 
ethics  as  phases  of  the  larger  sex-education,  there 
has  been  much  discussion.  Several  writers  have 
contended  that  there  is  some  conflict  between  sani- 
tary and  moral  ends,  but  have  failed  to  convince 
most  readers  that  hygiene  and  ethics  should  not 
be  associated  in  teaching.  In  fact,  the  most  im- 
pressive sex-hygiene  is  that  relating  to  social  disease, 
and  its  value  is  chiefly  in  the  ethical  appeal  for  pro- 
tection of  innocent  wives  and  children. 


THE   PROBLEMS   FOR   SEX-EDUCATION  63 

Most  prominent  of  those  who  have  declared  that 
hygienic  and  moral  teaching  should  be  dissociated 
is  Dr.  Richard  C.  Cabot,  of  Boston.  I  Dr.  Cabot's 
shall  discuss  his  point  of  view  in  connec-  view- 
tion  with  a  later  lecture  on  "Criticisms  of  Sex- 
education"  (§  46).  In  the  present  discussion 
of  sexual  morality  as  an  important  reason  for  sex- 
education,  it  is  sufficient  to  say  that  Dr.  Cabot 
seems  to  disagree  with  other  teachers  on  the  ques- 
tion of  the  influence  of  formal  instruction  on  the 
morals  of  people. 

Sex-education  is  now  commonly  understood  to 
be  attempting  to  solve  the  moral  as  well  as  the 
hygienic  problems  of  sex.  As  suggested  Moral  and 
before,  these  two  lines  of  problems  are  hygienic 
clearly  related  but  not  coincident;  for  pro 
sexual  health  and  morals  are  not  entirely  coordinated. 
We  must  not  overlook  the  possibility  that  the  mar- 
vellous progress  of  bacteriological  and  medical 
science  may  some  day  largely  reduce  the  health 
problems  of  sex  without  improving  morality.  In 
fact,  sexual  immorality  that  is  hygienic  does  actu- 
ally exist  to  a  limited  extent.  Such  facts  indicate 
that  while  sex-education  was  first  planned  to  solve 
health  problems,  the  ultimate  sex-education  must 
attempt  to  guide  sexual  conduct  by  moral  principles. 
This  coming  need  of  more  emphasis  on  the  moral 
problems  of  sex  should  be  clearly  foreseen  by  those 
who  are  interested  in  sex-education. 

Now,  while  sexual  morality  as  commonly  under- 
stood is  a  direct  aim  of  sex-education,  it  is  not, 


64  SEX-EDUCATION 

in  the  opinion  of  many  people,  the  ideal  and  ulti- 
mate goal  of  sex-education  in  its  broadest  outlook. 
Super-  There  is  something  higher  than  conven- 

moraiity  tional  morality  for  the  reason  that,  while 
esira  e.  natural  sexual  union  in  monogamic  mar- 
riage is  never  legally  or  ecclesiastically  immoral,  it 
is  very  often  far  from  ideal.  It  is  not  ideal  if  it  is 
unethical,  unhygienic,  or  unaesthetic.  It  is  un- 
ethical, if  it  is  not  a  bi-personal  desideratum  (i.e., 
based  on  mutual  love *) ;  it  is  unhygienic  when  not 
promotive  and  conservative  of  health;  and  it  is 
unaesthetic  if  the  concomitant  psychical  reactions 
are  not  in  harmony  with  the  beautiful  in  nature  and 
life.  In  all  these  ways,  morality  as  commonly 
and  legally  and  ecclesiastically  understood  may  fall 
very  far  short  of  the  ideal  sexual  relationships.  Such 
an  ideal  is  now  held  by  many  men  and  women 
who  wish  that  morality  might  mean  to  all  the  world 
not  simply  the  limitation  of  sexual  union  to  mono- 
gamic marriage,  but  also  that  it  might  be  made  to 
mean  an  all-satisfying  monogamic  affection  and 
comradeship  based  on  certain  physiological,  psychi- 
cal, aesthetic,  and  ethical  laws  that  underlie  human 
sexual  potentialities.  Such  would  be  a  morality  so 

1  Many  thinking  men  and  women  now  agree  with  Ellen  Key  that 
"marriage  is  immoral  without  mutual  love,"  that  "love  is  the  sole 
decisive  point  of  view  in  questions  concerning  this  relationship," 
that  "it  will  come  to  pass  that  no  finely  sensitive  woman  will  become 
a  mother  except  through  mutual  love,"  that  "everything  which  is 
exchanged  between  husband  and  wife  in  their  life  together  can  only 
be  the  free  gift  of  love,  can  never  be  demanded  by  one  or  the  other 
as  a  right."  (Key  —  "The  Morality  of  Woman.") 


THE   PROBLEMS  FOR   SEX-EDUCATION  65 

far  beyond  the  accepted  standards  that  for  con- 
venience we  may  call  it  super-morality,  or  the  new 
morality.  This,  I  sincerely  believe,  is  the  ultimate 
goal  of  sex-education  in  its  largest  outlook. 

Among  those  who  have  contributed  to  the  sex- 
education  movement  there  are  none  who  have  prop- 
erly   emphasized     this    super-morality, 
which,  I  believe,  is  the  ultimate  goal  of  morality 

the  larger  sex-education  for   the  most  deserves 

,.  ,  i        m  .  .  emphasis, 

enlightened  people.    The  definition  that 

sex-education  means  all  instruction  which  aims  to 
help  young  people  prepare  to  solve  for  themselves 
the  sexual  problems  that  inevitably  come  to  every 
normal  individual,  is  broad  enough  to  include  all 
questions  of  hygiene,  morality,  and  super-morality 
that  may  come  into  one's  life.  The  third  aim  of 
sex-education  (§  16)  which  refers  to  the  "social, 
ethical,  and  psychical  aspects  of  sex  as  affecting  the 
individual  life  in  relation  to  other  individuals," 
should  be  understood  as  meaning  first  a  stand  for 
morality  and  then,  this  having  been  attained,  super- 
morality  is  an  easy  stage  forward.  The  same  idea 
was  touched  by  the  writer  in  a  paper  on  "  Biology 
in  Sex-Instruction"  (Journal  of  Society  of  Sanitary 
and  Moral  Prophylaxis,  October,  1911)  in  these 
words:  "If  the  great  questions  of  sex  relationship 
are  ever  satisfactorily  solved,  it  must  be  through 
the  direct  application  of  the  four  sciences  which 
are  centered  around  human  life,  namely,  psychology, 
ethics,  sociology,  and  last,  but  far  from  least, 
aesthetics.  As  we  have  seen,  biology  teaches  much 


66  SEX-EDUCATION 

directly  bearing  on  the  purely  physical  aspects  of 
the  perpetuation  of  human  life,  and  its  study  is 
absolutely  necessary  for  mental  attitude  and  basal 
facts ;  but  the  keystone  of  the  arch  of  sex-education 
must  be  contributed  by  these  four  sciences  which 
touch  human  life  much  deeper  than  the  merely 
physical,  to  which  the  science  of  biology  is  limited. 
Above  all  we  must  look  to  these  sciences  for  the 
solution  of  the  problems  of  sex  in  relation  to  society, 
which  more  than  any  physical  ills  have  led  to  our 
present  problems  concerning  sexual  disharmonies." 
But  while  there  is  something  attractive  hi  this 
larger  interpretation  of  sex-education  as  looking 
forward  to  the  highest  adaptation  of 
morality  sex  and  life,  I  realize  that  as  a  practi- 

not  for  the  ca]  matter  we  must  first  of  all  work 
masses.  ...  ,  .. 

with  young  people  for  sexual  morality 

as  defined  by  the  accepted  code.  We  must  remem- 
ber that  the  vast  majority  of  people  are  not  yet 
ready,  and  will  not  soon  be  ready,  for  a  code  of 
super-morality.  Confusion  might  result  from  an 
attempt  at  wholesale  teaching  of  such  idealism  of 
sex  relationship.  Certainly,  so  far  as  sex-education 
aims  to  help  immature  young  people,  there  is 
nothing  to  do  but  hold  up  monogamic  marriage  as 
the  basis  of  our  accepted  morality ;  but  the  higher 
view  of  super-morality  should  be  promulgated  as 
rapidly  as  possible  among  people  who  are  advanced 
enough  to  understand  that  morality  as  defined  by 
church  and  state  is  not  the  best  interpretation  of 
life's  possibilities.  To  many  it  is  a  significant  fact 


THE   PROBLEMS  FOR   SEX-EDUCATION  67 

that  we  now  find  numerous  young  men  and  women 
ready  to  stand  for  super-morality  as  a  foundation 
for  monogamic  marriage.  Fortunately,  such  indi- 
viduals need  not  wait  for  the  world  to  grasp  the  idea 
of  super-morals ;  and  already  there  is  many  a  home 
in  which  the  higher  view  of  life  and  sex  prevails. 

Immorality  in  sexual  lines  should  not  be  overstressed 
when  teaching  young  people.  Rather  should  there 
be  emphasis  on  the  moral,  the  normal, 

,,,,,,,,,,,  ,       .      Cautious 

the  healthful,  the  helpful,  and  the  aesthetic  teaching 
processes    in    human   life.      We   should  concerning 

•  immorality. 

emphasize  sexual  health  and  morals,  not 
disease  and  immorality.  Concerning  immoral  living 
in  general,  young  people  should  know  only  enough 
for  necessary  warning.  Curiosity  derived  from  ex- 
tensive knowledge  of  immorality  has  drawn  many  a 
young  man  into  the  whirlpool  of  sexual  depravity. 
It  is  beyond  question  that  in  sexual  lines  there  is  the 
danger  that  Pope  saw  when  he  declared  that  vice 
is  a  monster  that  seen  too  oft,  we  first  endure,  then 
pity,  then  embrace.  Sex-education  should  guard 
against  such  dangerous  familiarity  with  vice. 

§  ii.    The  Sixth  Problem  for  Sex-education:  Sexual 
Vulgarity 

Even  a  limited  study  of  the  prevailing  attitude 
towards  sex  and  reproduction  convinces  one  that 
back   of   the   greatest   sexual  problems  Present 
of   our   times   is   the   almost   universal  attitude, 
secrecy,  disrespect,  vulgarity,  and  irreverence  con- 
cerning   every    aspect    of    sex    and    reproduction. 


68  SEX-EDUCATION 

Even  expectant  motherhood  is  commonly  concealed 
as  long  as  possible,  and  all  reference  to  the  develop- 
ing new  life  is  usually  accompanied  with  blushes 
and  tones  suggestive  of  some  great  shame.  Nothing 
sexual  is  commonly  regarded  as  sacred.  Love 
and  marriage,  motherhood  and  birth,  are  all  freely 
selected  as  themes  for  sexual  jests,  many  of  them 
so  vulgar  that  no  printed  dictionary  supplies  the 
necessary  words.  And  I  am  not  simply  referring 
to  the  great  masses  of  uneducated  people,  for 
the  saddest  fact  is  that  a  very  large  proportion  of 
intelligent  people  have  not  an  open-minded  and 
respectful  attitude  concerning  sex  and  reproduction. 

Now,  unless  we  can  devise  some  way  to  counter- 
act the  prevailing  narrow,  vulgar,  disrespectful,  and 
Vast  change  irreverent  attitude  towards  all  aspects  of 
of  attitude  sex  and  reproduction ;  unless  we  can 
make  people  see  sexual  processes  in  all 
their  normal  aspects  as  noble,  beautiful,  and  splendid 
steps  in  the  great  plan  of  nature;  unless  we  can 
substitute  a  philosophical  and  aesthetic  view  of  sex 
relationship  for  the  time-worn  interpretation  of 
everything  sexual  as  inherently  vulgar,  base, 
ignoble,  and  demanding  asceticism  for  those  who 
would  reach  the  highest  spiritual  development; 
unless  we  can  begin  to  make  these  changes  in  the 
prevailing  attitude  towards  sex  and  reproduction,  we 
cannot  make  any  decided  advance  in  the  attempt  to 
help  solve  sexual  problems  by  special  instruction. 

First  of  all,  sex-education  must  work  for  a  purified 
and  dignified  attitude  which  sees  vulgarity  and 


THE  PROBLEMS   FOR   SEX-EDUCATION  69 

impurity  only  when  the  functions  of  sex  have  been 
voluntarily  and  knowingly  misused  and  thereby  de- 
based. Sex-education  must  work  against  the  idea 
that  sexual  processes  are  inherently  vulgar,  degraded, 
base,  and  impure.  Such  an  interpretation  is  correct 
only  when  sexual  instincts  are  uncontrolled  and 
thereby  out  of  harmony  with  the  highest  ideals  of 
life.  But  control  does  not  mean  asceticism  which 
aims  at  complete  subjugation  of  sexual  instincts 
and  would  annihilate  them  if  that  were  biologically 
possible.  The  early  Christians,  disgusted  with  the 
sexual  degradation  of  the  paganistic  and  materialis- 
tic Romans,  preached  a  doctrine  of  sexual  asceticism 
as  the  ideal  for  those  who  would  rise  to  the  heights 
of  spiritual  life.  This  pessimistic  interpretation  of 
the  relation  of  sex  and  life  has  persisted  even  in 
some  ecclesiastical  teachings  of  the  twentieth 
century,  and  probably  has  had  not  a  little  responsi- 
bility for  the  widely  accepted  and  depressing  view 
that  sex  is  a  necessary  but  regrettable  fact  of  human 
life. 

Fortunately,   the  old   ascetic  point  of  view  is 
passing    rapidly.     Nineteenth-century    science   has 
given  us  a  nobler  view  of  the  physical  Attitude 
world.     Scientifically  considered,  matter  changing, 
is  no  longer  base  and  degraded.     Especially  has  the 
biological  science  of  the  past  fifty  years  made  living 
matter   and   its   activities   profoundly   impressive. 
And  of  the  life-activities  none  are  so  significant  and 
so  all-important  as  those  relating  to  the  perpetuation 
of    the    human    species.    Biological    science    has 


•JO  SEX-EDUCATION 

taught  this  emphatically,  and  the  processes  con- 
nected with  sex  have  been  Uf  ted  to  a  place  of  dignity 
and  purity. 

The  old  asceticism,  with  its  uniformly  dark  outlook 
on  life,  has  no  lessons  worth  while  in  our  modern 
.Esthetic  problems  relating  to  sex.1  We  need  se- 
attitude  vere  control  and  not  annihilation  of 
desirable.  Qur  most  powerfui  instmcts.  The  bright 

outlook  of  aesthetics  rather  than  the  dark  one  of 
asceticism  should  prevail,  for  sex-instincts  and 
processes  are  essentially  pure  and  beautiful  phases 
of  that  wonderful  something  we  call  "life."  Sex- 
education  should  aim  to  give  this  attitude  by  pre- 
senting life  as  fundamentally  free  from  the  degrada- 
tion arising  from  misuse  and  misunderstanding  of  sex. 
The  aesthetic  interpretation  of  sex  is  no  new  ideal. 
Canon  Lyttleton,  formerly  Head  Master  of  Eton 
Not  a  new  College  and  later  Canon  of  Westmin- 
ideai.  ster,  believed  that  "viewed  rightly,  the 

subject  of  sex,  the  ever-recurring  miracle  of  genera- 
tion and  birth,  is  full  of  nobleness,  purity,  and 
health."  The  late  Dr.  Prince  A.  Morrow  wrote, 
"the  sex  function  is  intimately  connected  with  the 
physical,  mental,  and  moral  development.  Its  right 

'Foerster,  in  his  "Marriage  and  the  Sex  Problem,"  urges  that 
self-control  over  sexual  passions  is  the  working  of  the  old  idea  of 
asceticism,  which  he  believes  "should  be  regarded,  not  as  a  negation 
of  nature  nor  as  an  attempt  to  extirpate  natural  forces,  but  as  prac- 
tice in  the  art  of  self-discipline.  Its  object  should  be  to  show  hu- 
manity what  the  human  will  is  capable  of  performing,  to  serve  as 
an  encouraging  example  of  the  conquest  of  the  spirit  over  the  animal 
Belf."  My  personal  view  is  that  nothing  is  gained  by  confusing 
eelf-control  and  the  old  asceticism. 


THE   PROBLEMS   FOR    SEX-EDUCATION  yi 

use  is  the  surest  basis  of  individual  health,  happi- 
ness and  usefulness  in  life,  as  well  as  of  racial  per- 
manence and  prosperity.  Its  abuse  and  misuse  is 
the  cause  of  a  vast  deal  of  disease  and  misery."  And 
finally,  we  may  quote  President-Emeritus  Eliot  of 
Harvard  University :  "  Society  must  be  relieved  by 
sound  instruction  of  the  horrible  doctrine  that  the 
begetting  and  bearing  of  children  are  in  the  slightest 
degree  sinful  or  foul  processes.  That  doctrine  lies 
at  the  root  of  the  f  eeling  of  shame  hi  connection  with 
these  processes  and  of  the  desire  for  secrecy.  The 
plain  fact  is  that  there  is  nothing  so  sacred  and 
propitious  on  earth  as  the  bringing  of  another  nor- 
mal child  into  the  world  in  marriage.  There  is 
nothing  staining  or  defiling  about  it,  and  therefore 
there  is  no  need  for  shame  or  secrecy,  but  only  for 
pride  and  joy.  This  doctrine  should  be  part  of  the 
instruction  given  to  all  young  people." 

If  sex-education  succeeds  in  giving  young  people 
this  enlightened  attitude,  there  will  be  little  diffi- 
culty in  solving  most  pf  the  ethical  and 

*.  r  A  Attitude  aD- 

hygienic    problems    of    sex.    A    young  important  in 
man  who  has  caught  a  glimpse  of  the  s«-educa- 
highest  interpretation  of  sex  hi  its  rela- 
tion to  human  life,  in  short  a  young  man  to  whom 
all  natural  sexual  processes  are  essentially  pure  and 
noble  and  beautiful,  is  not  one  who  will  make  grave 
hygienic  mistakes  hi  his  own  life,  and  he  will  not  be 
personally  connected  with  the  social  evil  and  its 
diseases,  and  he  will  avoid  almost  intuitively  the 
physiologic   and   psychologic   mistakes    that   most 


72  SEX-EDUCATION 

often  cause  matrimonial  disaster.  Everything,  then, 
in  successful  sex-education  depends  upon  the  atti- 
tude formed  in  the  minds  of  learners  ;  and  towards 
this  our  major  efforts  should  be  directed. 

The  prevailing  vulgar  attitude  towards  sex  will 

not   be   greatly   improved   by   repeated   emphasis 

upon  the  animal  nature  of  reproduction 

Comparison     .  ,          ,       . 

TOth  in   attempts   at   supporting   the    thesis 


animals  not  fa^  propagation  is  the  sole  function 
helpful.  .  ,  ... 

of    sexual    processes    in    human    life. 

Such  an  interpretation  of  human  sexuality  as  purely 
animalistic  in  function  is  implied,  if  not  expressed, 
by  some  workers  for  the  "purity"  movement.  I 
sincerely  believe  that  such  a  view  will  inevitably 
tend  to  increase  the  feeling  that  sexual  processes 
are  heritages  from  the  beasts  which  unfortunately 
must  be  tolerated  because  nature  has  provided 
no  other  way  for  perpetuating  human  life. 

An  intelligent  woman,  a  happy  wife  and  mother, 
who  had  accepted  this  ascetic  and  pessimistic 
Sexual  view  of  sex,  said  the  other  day:  "Oh, 
pessimism.  jove  an(j  marriage  and  motherhood 
would  be  so  beautiful  were  it  possible  to  escape 
the  unspeakably  vulgar  facts  of  physical  lif  e  !  " 
Poor  woman  !  It  must  have  been  some  fiend  incar- 
nate who  in  the  guise  of  a  prophet  of  purity 
preached  to  her  the  animalistic  interpretation  of 
sex,  which  made  her  overlook  the  fact  that  the  very 
beauty  which  she  could  not  quite  grasp  -had  its 
origin  hi  her  emotions  arising  from  the  despised 
sexual  nature. 


THE   PROBLEMS   FOR    SEX-EDUCATION  73 

This  is  not  an  isolated  case.  Several  young 
women  who  have  graduated  from  college  within 
ten  years  vouch  for  the  statement  that  many 
thoughtful  students  are  strong  hi  the  belief  that  ideal 
marriage  is  platonic  friendship  and  that  it  is  a  sad 
fact  of  life  that  husband  and  wife  must  lay  aside 
their  high  ideals  in  order  to  become  parents. 

Such  depressing  interpretations  of  life  are  bound 
to  come  from  the  radical  type  of  "purity"  preaching 
based  on  the  sexual  mistakes  of  the  past  and  on  the 
lives  of  animals.  A  similar  pessimistic  view  regard- 
ing the  function  of  eating  might  be  based  on  mistakes 
of  drunkards  and  gluttons  and  on  the  habits  of  the 
porcine  family.  If  these  are  to  guide  our  conduct, 
then  food-taking  is  to  be  regarded  as  a  necessary  but 
vulgar  habit  inherited  from  our  animal  ancestors; 
and  if  we  are  to  be  logical  and  attempt  to  rise  to 
ideal  purity  in  eating,  we  must  hasten  to  dispense 
with  the  culinary  science  and  all  the  aesthetics 
which  have  made  civilized  eating  a  fine  art.  Of 
course,  this  is  just  what  the  strict  ascetic  does; 
but  such  radical  disbelievers  in  the  pleasures  that 
we  have  associated  with  eating  would  be  declared 
lunatics  in  any  civilized  country. 

I  have  chosen  eating  for  illustrating  my  point,  for 
the  demands  for  food  and  for  sexual  activity  are 
the  two  primal  and  necessary  forms  of  TWO  kinds 
hunger.    The  hunger  for  food  has  led  of  hunger, 
to  the  refinements  of  civilized  dining,  but  there  has 
been  great  evolution.    The  animals  feed  (German, 
fressen)  hi  order  to  satisfy  hunger  only;   civilized 


74  SEX-EDUCATION 

humans  eat  (essen)  not  only  to  satisfy  the  hunger 
appetite  inherited  from  the  animals,  but  also  for  the 
sake  of  the  concomitant  social  aesthetic  pleasures 
that  add  much  to  the  joy  of  living.  Now,  if  we  are 
logical,  we  must  interpret  on  parallel  lines  the 
sexual  hunger  that  is  necessary  for  the  perpetuation 
of  human  life.  Like  eating,  it  is  a  necessary  function 
inherited  from  the  animals ;  but  there  has  been  an 
evolution  of  greater  significance.  In  the  animal 
world,  sexual  activity  has  only  one  function,  re- 
production; but  human  life  at  its  highest  has 
superadded  psychical  and  social  meaning  to  sexual 
relationships,  and  the  result  has  been  affection  and 
the  human  family.  If  we  reject  this  higher  view 
of  the  double  significance  of  sexuality  in  human 
life,  and  insist  that  only  the  necessary  propaga- 
tive  function  is  worthy  of  recognition,  it  is  almost 
inevitable  that  most  people  will  continue  to  accept 
the  hopeless  view  that  human  sexuality  is  on  the 
same  vulgar  plane  as  that  of  the  animals ;  in  short, 
that  it  is  only  an  animal  function.  This,  I  insist, 
is  a  depressing  interpretation  that  will  never  help 
overcome  the  prevailing  vulgar  attitude  toward 
sex.  -*j 

It  is  only  by  frankly  recognizing  and  developing 
the  psychical  and  aesthetic  meanings  that  are   dis- 
tinctly human  and  superadded  to  the 
Human 
sexuality       merely  propagative  function  of  the  am- 

°"£®a?ian      mals,  that  people  can  be  led  far  away 
from  the  vulgar  outlook  on  sex  and  re- 
production in  human  life. 


THE  PROBLEMS   FOR   SEX-EDUCATION  75 

There  is  no  question  that  wholesome  attitude 
towards  sex  and  reproduction  is  closely  associated 
with  the  problems  of  sexual  morality,  Reiationof 
and  especially  so  far  as  educational  pro-  attitude  and 
cedure  is  concerned.  It  is  true  that  large  n 
numbers  of  moral  people  hold  the  vulgar  attitude 
towards  sex  and  reproduction ;  but  for  people  who 
do  not  accept  the  moral  code  without  question  there 
is  probably  no  better  way  of  teaching  sexual  morality 
than  by  influencing  the  individual's  attitude.  There 
are  many  people  who  stand  for  sexual  morality 
for  no  other  reason  than  that  they  have  a  dignified 
and  aesthetic  attitude  towards  sex. 

There  is  much  evidence  that  the  world  is  rapidly 
improving  in  this  respect.     Sexual  vulgarity  seems 

to  represent  a  stage  in  the  evolution  of 

...      -  ,       ,      ,  ,       Sexual 

human  life  from   the   barbaric   to   the  vulgarity  a 

fully  civilized.    The  sexual  vulgarity  of  sta«:ein 

,J .  .  '     .    evolution, 

primitive    peoples,    both    ancient    and 

modem,  has  been  all  too  frequently  recalled  by 
writers  whose  pseudo-scientific  superficiality  leads 
them  to  believe  that  knowledge  concerning  barbaric 
and  ultra-bestial  sensuality  will  help  solve  modern 
sex  problems.  In  the  classical  days  when  Venus 
and  Bacchus  and  other  deities  of  sensuality  were 
worshipped  by  their  devotees,  there  was  sexual  vul- 
garity in  action  and  language  such  as  now  exists 
only  among  the  most  ignorant  or  depraved  people 
in  civilized  lands.  The  advent  of  Christian  civiliza- 
tion in  Europe  left  no  place  for  temples  and  worship 
of  sensuality,  but  still  the  age-old  tendency  towards 


76  SEX-EDUCATION 

a  crude  and  barbaric  kind  of  sexual  vulgarity  and 
obscenity  has  continued  in  folklore,  in  colloquial 
language,  and  in  literature.  However,  there  has 
been  a  vast  change  in  the  attitude  of  the  best  people 
within  the  last  two  centuries.  Once  many  English 
writers,  many  of  them  now  deservedly  obscure, 
published  prose  and  poetry  that  would  now  be 
criminal.  An  unexpurgated  edition  of  Shake- 
speare's "Complete  Works,"  or  of  Boccaccio's 
"Decameron,"  could  not  be  circulated  through  the 
United  States  mails,  and  there  are  many  good  people 
who  are  asking  how  long  we  shall  continue  to 
allow  the  unexpurgated  "Old  Testament"  the 
privilege  of  circulation.  It  is  not  simply  prose  and 
poetry  that  has  been  purified.  Scientific  literature 
has  shown  the  influence  of  the  reaction  against 
obscenity.  Linnaeus  and  other  naturalists  of  the 
past  were  fond  of  giving  scientific  names  that  per- 
petuated vulgar  comparisons  with  sexual  organs,  but 
no  naturalist  of  the  present  day  would  dare  suggest 
such  designations  for  unnamed  animals  and  plants. 
The  older  medical  literature  contains  abundant 
obscenities ;  but  scientific  dignity,  as  well  as  the  re- 
finement of  modern  medical  writers,  has  tended  to 
compel  the  elimination  of  vulgarity.  However, 
there  are  still  too  many  physicians,  especially  those 
working  with  venereal  and  genito-urinary  diseases, 
who  go  out  of  their  way  to  illuminate  their  con- 
versations, lectures,  books,  and  magazine  articles 
with  veiled  vulgarity.  Even  high-class  medical 
journals  occasionally  contain  illustrations  of  this 


THE   PROBLEMS   FOR    SEX-EDUCATION  77 

tendency.  However,  the  medical  profession  as  a 
class  stands  for  dignified  scientific  presentation  of 
facts,  and  obscenity  will  soon  be  tabooed  in  medical 
and  all  other  reputable  literature.  Save  for  occa- 
sional emanations  privately  printed  by  and  for 
degenerate  persons,  public  obscenity  will  soon  be 
unknown.  Its  complete  disappearance  will  have  a 
vast  influence  upon  the  problem  of  sexual  attitude. 

§  12.   The  Seventh  Problem  for  Sex-instruction: 
Marriage 

It  is  the  consensus  of  opinion  of  numerous  physi- 
cians, ministers,  and  lawyers  that  a  very  large  pro- 
portion of  matrimonial  disharmonies 

,     .      ,         ,  .        ,  Physiology 

have  their  foundation  in  the  common  andpsy- 

misunderstanding  of  the  physiology  and  chologyof 
•   11        £  4.1.  u   i  r  T      marriage, 

especially  of  the  psychology  of  sex.     In 

the  opinion  of  many  students  of  sexual  problems, 
this  is  the  strongest  reason  for  sex-instruction.  It 
is  certainly  a  line  in  which  limited  spread  of  infor- 
mation has  already  given  some  definite  and  satis- 
factory results.  Many  of  my  friends  and  former 
students  have  helped  me  accumulate  a  long  list 
of  cases  in  which  scientific  knowledge  regarding  sex 
has  prevented  and  corrected  matrimonial  disagree- 
ments; and  having  easily  found  so  much  definite 
influence  of  sex-science  upon  marriage,  I  am  forced 
to  believe  that  sex-instruction  specially  organized 
for  people  of  marriageable  age  is  already  giving 
results  of  tremendous  importance  to  very  many  in- 
dividuals. Large  numbers  of  young  people  are 


78  SEX-EDUCATION 

already  awake  to  the  need  of  scientific  guidance 
in  marriage,  and  there  is  a  great  demand  for  helpful 
information. 

Advanced  sex-instruction  with  reference  to  the 
problems  of  marriage  need  not  wait  for  general 
establishment  of  elementary  instruction  for  children 
of  school  ages.  Lectures  and  books  are  already 
reaching  large  numbers  of  adults.  Such  enlighten- 
ment will  help  in  two  ways,  by  the  influence  on 
marriage  and  by  preparing  adults  to  teach  children. 

There  is  another  side  to  the  problem  of  marriage 
that  points  to  need  of  the  larger  sex-education. 
Other  Physiology  and  psychology  of  sex  are 

knowledge  fundamental;  but  they  alone  are  not 
sufficient  to  complete  that  mutual  adjust- 
ment and  understanding  which  marriage  at  the  full 
development  of  its  possibilities  involves.  Matri- 
monial harmony  cannot  be  entirely  a  problem  of 
applied  science,  as  some  superficial  devotees  of 
science  seem  to  think ;  for  science  can  never  analyze 
those  subtle  and  ever-varying  qualities  that  go  to 
make  up  what  we  call  personality,  and  marriage 
in  its  largest  outlook  is  the  intimate  blending  of 
two  personalities.  Psychological  and  physiological 
knowledge  will  undoubtedly  help  the  two  married 
individuals  in  their  progress  towards  the  harmonious 
adjustment  of  their  individualities;  but  there  are 
many  little,  but  often  serious,  problems  that  the 
physiology  and  psychology  of  sex  cannot  solve. 
They  are  problems  that  involve  mutual  affection, 
comradeship,  sympathy,  unselfishness,  cooperation, 


THE   PROBLEMS  FOR   SEX-EDUCATION  79 

kindliness,  and  devotion  of  husband  and  wife.  Ob- 
viously, these  can  never  be  developed  by  any 
formal  instruction. 

Probably  there  is  no  better  way  to  help  young  peo- 
ple realize  the  possibilities  of  matrimonial  harmony 
than  by  suggesting  wholesome  litera-  Helpful 
ture.  Some  of  this  is  a  part  of  the  world's  literature, 
general  treasure  of  books  that  in  prose  and  poetry, 
in  history  and  romance,  hold  up  a  high  ideal  of  love 
with  marriage.  There  is  much  such  literature  that 
gives  young  people  inspiration,  but  too  much  of  it, 
like  college  life,  ends  with  a  commencement.  "And 
then  they  were  married  and  lived  happily  ever 
after"  —  is  the  familiar  closing  as  the  novelist  rings 
down  the  curtain  after  reciting  only  the  pro- 
logue in  the  life  drama  of  his  two  lovers.  We  need 
more  literature  that  does  not  end  with  the  wedding 
march,  but  which  gives  young  people  the  successful 
solution  of  the  problems  after  marriage.  Some 
such  is  available  in  history  and  biography ;  some  in 
essays.  As  I  write  there  come  to  my  mind  several 
books  that  have  impressed  me :  Professor  Palmer's 
"Life  of  Alice  Freeman  Palmer" ;  Leonard  Huxley's 
"Life  and  Letters  of  T.  H.  Huxley,"  which  gives 
many  intimate  glimpses  of  the  ideal  home  life  which 
the  great  biologist  centered  around  Mrs.  Huxley; 
William  George  Jordan's  "Little  Problems  of  Married 
Life" ;  Orrin  Cock's  "Engagement  and  Marriage"; 
and  that  much  misunderstood  l  but  helpful  book 

1  Misunderstood,  it  seems  to  me,  because  her  philosophy  demand- 
ing that  marriage  begin  with,  exist  with,  and  end  with  love  means 


go  SEX-EDUCATION 

"Love  and  Marriage"  by  Ellen  Key.  Many  of  the 
stories  by  Virginia  Terhune  Van  de  Water,  published 
in  the  magazines  and  collected  in  a  book  entitled 
"Why  I  Left  my  Husband"  (Moffatt,  Yard),  deal 
with  real  problems  of  married  life. 

The   problems   of   co-education   and   coordinate 
education  have  not  a  little  bearing  on  the  adjust- 
ment of  the  two  sexes  in  marriage.     In 
Similar  .        i      «         • 

education  of  these  days  when  vocational  education  is 

the  sexes.  fashionable  in  theory  and  is  attracting 
attention  in  practice,  we  are  told  that  co-education 
and  coordinate  education  are  mistakes  because 
they  provide  the  same  training  for  both  sexes.  We 
are  told  that  girls  must  be  educated  for  their  voca- 
tion of  home-making,  while  boys  must  be  educated 
for  business,  trades,  or  professions.  Everywhere  in 
this  current  movement  for  vocational  education  we 
find  the  emphasis  placed  on  making  education  for 
the  two  sexes  just  as  dissimilar  as  possible.  For- 
tunately for  the  educational  adjustments  of  the  two 
sexes  to  each  other,  much  of  the  present-day  discus- 
sion that  demands  extensive  sex  specialization  of 
education  cannot  be  made  practical  and  the  training 
of  the  two  sexes  will  inevitably  continue  to  be  quite 
similar,  with  at  most  a  limited  amount  of  time  spent 
on  application  of  certain  knowledge  to  practical 

freedom  in  love,  and  this  has  been  misinterpreted  as  "free  love"  in 
the  sense  of  promiscuity.  I  know  of  no  writer  who  stands  for 
marriage  on  a  higher  plane  than  that  advocated  by  Ellen  Key.  Her 
lecture  on  "Morality  of  Woman"  (Seymour  Co.,  Chicago)  is  a  good 
condensed  statement  of  her  largest  ideas  and  a  helpful  introduction 
to  "Love  and  Marriage." 


THE   PROBLEMS   FOR   SEX-EDUCATION  8 1 

ends  that  are  chiefly  of  interest  to  one  sex  only. 
By  far  the  greater  part  of  education  from  kinder- 
garten through  the  university  is  in  the  nature  of 
the  fundamentals  of  knowledge  and  will  continue  to 
be  essentially  similar  for  both  sexes.  For  illustra- 
tion, the  writer  happens  to  be  connected  with  a  col- 
lege which  offers  a  four-year  course  and  graduate 
work  specially  arranged  with  reference  to  household 
arts.  Surely  here  is  an  opportunity  for  education 
far  different  from  that  of  the  typical  college  for  men. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  there  is  great  similarity.  The 
greater  part  of  the  four  years  is  filled  with  general 
courses  in  English,  modern  languages,  chemistry, 
biology,  physics,  sociology,  economics,  and  fine 
arts,  while  a  minor  part  of  the  curriculum  consists 
of  courses  in  cookery,  clothing,  and  household  ad- 
ministration. The  general  courses  are  in  essentials 
not  different  from  courses  in  colleges  for  men.  Here 
and  there  instructors  select  materials  and  in  other 
ways  relate  the  general  courses  to  household  arts, 
but  after  all  a  girl  who  completes  these  courses  has 
acquired  the  same  educational  fundamentals  that 
her  brother  gets  in  Columbia  College  or  in  any  other 
standard  college  for  men.  It  is  only,  then,  in  the 
cookery,  clothing,  and  administration  that  there  is 
sex-differentiated  education,  and  even  in  these  the 
practice  necessary  to  acquire  proficiency  in  technique 
is  the  chief  peculiarity.  So  far  as  fundamental 
knowledge  is  concerned,  cookery  is  chiefly  an  appli- 
cation of  chemistry,  physics,  and  physiology  that 
could  easily  be  made  clear  to  one  who  had  completed 
Q 


82  SEX-EDUCATION 

courses  in  these  sciences  in  a  college  for  men ;  dress 
design  is  an  application  of  fine  arts  and  its  con- 
struction is  a  mechanical  problem.  The  mental 
problems  involved  in  dress  design  and  making 
cannot  be  far  different  from  house  design  and 
construction  which  are  supposed  to  be  primarily 
adapted  to  men. 

On  the  whole,  then,  there  is  really  little  possibility 
of  sex-differentiated  education.  This,  I  insist,  is  a 
Little  dif-  fortunate  fact  of  vast  importance  in  the 
ferentiation.  mutual  adjustment  of  the  two  sexes  in 
marriage.  There  could  be  no  adjustment  on  an  in- 
telligent basis  if  education  could  be  utterly  dis- 
similar. There  can  be  perfect  adjustment  only 
when  the  two  individuals  are  adjusted  harmoniously, 
and  that  means  similar  outlooks  on  life's  problems. 

Many  of  the  problems  of  the  modern  feministic 
movement  are  such  as  to  demand  rational  education 

of  both  women  and  men  with  reference 
Need  of  sex- 
education       to   sex   and   marriage.     Let   me   quote 

ism*6"1"1  ^'  Gasquoine  Hartley,  whose  suggestive 
Chapters  VIII  and  IX  in  her  "  Truth 
About  Woman"  (Dodd,  Mead)  deserve  to  live  long 
after  the  readable  but  unscientifically  applied  earlier 
chapters  are  consigned  to  oblivion : 

"To  hear  many  women  talk  it  would  appear  that 
the  new  ideal  is  a  one-sexed  world.  A  great  army  of 
women  have  espoused  the  task  of  raising  their  sex 
out  of  subjection.  For  such  a  duty  the  strength 
and  energy  of  passion  is  required.  Can  this  task 
be  performed  if  the  woman  to  any  extent  indulges  in 


THE  PROBLEMS   FOR   SEX-EDUCATION  83 

sex  —  otherwise  subjection  to  man?  Sexuality 
debases,  even  reproduction  and  birth  are  regarded 
as  'nauseating.'  Woman  is  not  free,  only  because 
she  has  been  the  slave  to  the  primitive  cycle  of 
emotions  which  belong  to  physical  love.  The  re- 
nunciation, the  conquest  of  sex  —  it  is  this  that  must 
be  gained.  As  for  man,  he  has  been  shown  up, 
women  have  found  him  out ;  his  long-worn  garments 
of  authority  and  his  mystery  and  glamour  have 
been  torn  into  shreds  —  woman  will  have  none  of 
him. 

"Now  obviously  these  are  over-statements,  yet 
they  are  the  logical  outcome  of  much  of  the  talk 
that  one  hears.  It  is  the  visible  sign  of  our  inco- 
herence and  error,  and  in  the  measure  of  these  follies 
we  are  sent  back  to  seek  the  truth.  Women  need 
a  robuster  courage  in  the  face  of  love,  a  greater  faith 
in  their  womanhood,  and  in  the  scheme  of  Life. 
Nothing  can  be  gained  from  the  child's  folly  in 
breaking  the  toys  that  have  momentarily  ceased  to 
please.  The  misogamist  type  of  woman  cannot 
fail  to  prove  as  futile  as  the  misogamist  man.  Not 
'Free  from  man'  is  the  watch-cry  of  women's  eman- 
cipation that  surely  is  to  be,  but  'Free  with  man.'" 

And  further  on  the  same  author,  considering  the 
problem  of  the  women  of  the  common  type  that  are 
classified  as  a  "third  sex,"  that  of  temperamental 
neuter,  says : 

"Economic    conditions    are    compelling    women 
to  enter  with  men  into  the  fierce  competition  of 
our  disordered  social  state.     Partly  due  sex  and 
to  this  reason,  though  much  more,  as  I  inteiiectu- 
think,  to  the  strong  stirring  in  woman  *&&*&• 
of  her  newly-discovered  self,  there  has  arisen  what 
I  should  like  to  call  an  over-emphasized  Intellectu- 


84  SEX-EDUCATION 

alism.  Where  sex  is  ignored  there  is  bound  to 
lurk  danger.  Every  one  recognizes  the  significance 
of  the  advance  in  particular  cases  of  women  to- 
wards a  higher  intellectual  individuation,  and  the 
social  utility  of  those  women  who  have  been  truly 
the  pioneers  of  the  new  freedom;  but  this  does 
not  lessen  at  all  the  disastrous  influence  of  an 
ideal  which  holds  up  the  renunciation  of  the  nat- 
ural rights  of  love  and  activities  of  women,  and 
thus  involves  an  irreparable  loss  to  the  race  by 
the  barrenness  of  many  of  its  finest  types.  The  sig- 
nificance of  such  Intellectuals  must  be  limited, 
because  for  them  the  possibility  of  transmission  by 
inheritance  of  their  valuable  qualities  is  cut  off,  and 
hence  the  way  is  closed  to  a  further  progress.  And, 
thus,  we  are  brought  back  to  that  simple  truth  from 
which  we  started;  there  are  two  sexes,  the  female 
and  the  male,  on  their  specific  differences  and  re- 
semblances blended  together  in  union  every  true 
advance  hi  progress  depends  —  on  the  perfected 
woman  and  the  perfected  man." 

One  who  studies  carefully  the  various  aspects  of 
the  extreme  feministic  movement  must  admit  that 

there  are  many  signs  of  the  dangers 
Young  worn-  .  ,  ' 

en  misled       which  the  above  quotations  point  out  so 

by  sexual       clearly.     Of  course,  we  cannot  believe 

pessimists.       .  .          .  ' 

in  the  sincerity  of  all  of  the  numerous 
women  of  thirty-five  to  fifty  years  who  pretend  to 
ignore  sex  completely.  Probably  most  of  them  have 
discovered  that  they  have  misunderstood  them- 
selves; but  it  is  also  probable  that  they  have  dis- 
covered too  late  for  making  a  readjustment  in  their 
own  lives.  However,  it  matters  little  whether  such 
women  have  really  succeeded  in  ignoring  sex.  The 


THE   PROBLEMS   FOR   SEX-EDUCATION  85 

real  problem  for  educational  attack  lies  in  the  fact 
that  such  women  often  succeed  in  proselyting  young 
women  under  twenty-five,  and  these  in  turn  may  not 
come  to  see  the  real  truth  about  sex  and  life  until 
ten  or  fifteen  years  later.  Clearly,  organized  edu- 
cation must  protect  young  women  against  such 
influences. 

The  greatest  good  which  may  come  from  the  sex- 
education  movement  is  not  prevention  or  elimination 
of  social  diseases,  it  is  not  improved  The  greatest 
health,  it  is  not  general  acceptance  of  the  good  in  sex- 
moral  law  of  sex,  it  is  not  one  or  all  e  ucatlon- 
these  that  are  devoutly  to  be  hoped  for;  but  far 
greater  than  such  possible  results  from  sex-education, 
it  will  bring  to  many  a  man  and  woman  a  deeper, 
nobler,  and  purer  knowledge  of  what  sex  means  for 
the  coming  race  and  of  what  it  means  now  to  each 
individual  who  realizes  life's  fullest  possibilities  in 
conjugal  affection  which  culminates  in  new  life  and 
new  motives  for  more  affection.  Such  an  under- 
standing of  sex  in  relation  to  home  life  will  help  this 
old  world  more  than  anything  else  which  sex-educa- 
tion may  accomplish. 

The  problems  of  sex  and  marriage  deserve  far 
more  attention  than  can  be  given  in  this  lecture.     I 
am  convinced  that  knowledge  of  sex  in  The 
its  physical,  psychical,  social,  and  aesthetic  greatest 
aspects  is  the  only  sure  foundation  for  sex  p      em' 
harmonious    marriage    under    modern    conditions. 
Therefore,  I  believe  this  to  be  the  greatest  sex 
problem  open  to  educational  attack. 


86  SEX-EDUCATION 

§  13.   The  Eighth  Problem  for  Sex-instruction: 
Eugenics 

Eugenics,  or  the  science  of  human  good  breeding,  is 
just  now  the  most  popular  of  the  problems  concerning 
Meaning  of  human  sex  and  reproduction.  In  recent 
eugenics.  years,  the  biological  investigators  of 
heredity  have  published  some  startling  facts  which 
show  that  the  human  race  must  soon  check  its  reck- 
less propagation  of  the  unfit  and  encourage  reproduc- 
tion by  the  best  types  of  men  and  women.  This  is 
not  the  place  for  a  review  of  the  eugenic  propositions. 
Those  interested  will  find  them  in  non-technical 
form  in  many  books  (see  the  bibliographical  chapter 
of  this  book,  page  248). 

Some  of  the  chief  facts  of  eugenics  should  be  a 
part  of  every  well-organized  scheme  of  sex-instruc- 
Eugenics  in  tion,  and  taught  through  biology  (§  17). 
biology.  Probably  no  other  topic  in  biology  is  so 
likely  to  make  an  ethical-social  appeal,  for  the  central 
point  of  eugenics  is  the  responsibility  of  the  indi- 
vidual whose  uncontrolled  sexual  actions  may  trans- 
mit undesirable  and  heritable  qualities  and  bring  a 
train  of  disaster  to  generations  of  descendants. 

At  this  point  we  digress  to  correct  the  widespread 
error  hi  confusing  sex-hygiene  and  eugenics.  Many 

people  who  ought  to  know  better  use  the 
Relation  of  ,11 

eugenics        two  terms  synonymously,  perhaps  be- 

andsex-        cause  they  are  afraid  of  that  compara- 
tively novel  but  frank  prefix  in  "sex- 
hygiene."    The   fact   is    that    eugenics    and    sex- 
hygiene  have  little  in  common.      Eugenics  is  the 


THE   PROBLEMS   FOR    SEX-EDUCATION  87 

science  of  reproducing  better  humans  by  applying 
the  established  laws  of  genetics  or  heredity.  In 
brief,  it  means,  on  the  positive  side,  selecting  de- 
sirable people  as  parents;  and,  negatively,  pre- 
venting propagation  by  the  undesirables.  This  is 
the  sum  total  of  the  task  of  eugenics  in  the  accurate 
sense  of  the  term. 

So  far  as  we  know,  each  coming  generation  will 
inherit  only  qualities  that  the  parents  inherited 
from  their  parents.  It  is  a  well-known  Facts  of 
principle  of  biology  that  changes  in  the  heredity, 
bodies  of  human  beings  during  their  lifetime  (dating 
from  the  fertilized  egg  that  produces  the  individual) 
are  never  in  any  noticeable  degree  inherited  by 
descendants.  In  short,  acquired  characteristics  of 
the  body  tissues  do  not  influence  the  germ  plasm,  the 
living  matter  concerned  with  heredity  and  reproduc- 
tion, but  the  germ  plasm  that  determines  what 
the  next  generation  will  inherit  is  fixed  at  birth. 
Thus  tuberculosis,  alcoholism,  gonorrhea,  and  syphilis 
may  be  acquired  during  the  life  of  an  individual, 
but  do  not  become  fixed  hi  the  germ  plasm.  If  the 
infants  show  effects  of  any  of  these  diseases,  it  is 
not  because  of  true  heredity  but  because  they  were 
infected  or  influenced  before  birth.  Rarely  does  this 
happen  to  children  of  a  tuberculous  mother,  but 
often  to  those  of  a  syphilitic  mother.  In  a  gonor- 
rheal  ophthalmia  neonatorum  ( specific  inflammation 
of  infants'  eyes)  it  is  a  case  of  infection  during  birth. 

Thus,  it  appears  that  sex-hygiene  either  personal 
or  social  (concerned  with  venereal  diseases)  is  not 


88  SEX-EDUCATION 

a  part  of  eugenics.    It  is,  however,  a  phase  of 
euthenics,    which    deals    with    the    environmental 

factors  that  affect  the  individual  life, 
iufd  ygien  B  It  is  clear,  then,  that  sex-hygiene  (hi  the 
eugenics  strict  medical  sense)  and  eugenics  are 

parallel  and  not  conflicting.  Eugenics 
aims  to  select  better  parents  who  will  transmit  their 
own  qualities  genetically.  Sex-hygiene  in  its  per- 
sonal and  social  aspects  will  make  healthier  parents 
able  to  give  their  offspring  a  healthier  start  hi  life, 
especially  because  the  offspring  is  free  from  the 
prenatal  effects  of  disease. 

The  teaching  of  heredity  and  eugenics  is  intended 
to  develop  a  sense  of  individual  responsibility  for 
the  transmission  of  one's  good  or  bad  inherited 
qualities  to  offspring.  The  teaching  of  sex-hygiene, 
either  personal  or  social,  looks  towards  improving 
personal  health  and  preventing  infection  and  in- 
jurious influence  on  the  unborn  next  generation. 
Obviously,  we  need  both  sex-hygiene  and  eugenics 
as  part  of  the  larger  sex-instruction. 

§  14.  Summary  of  Lectures  on  Sex  Problems 

We  have  made  a  general  survey  of  the  problems 
that  offer  reasons  for  sex-instruction.  We  have 
_  ._.  .  noted  that  some  of  the  problems  are 

Problems  of  . 

health,  atti-    concerned  with  health  and,  hence,   he 

tude,  and       within  the  scope  of  sex-hygiene  in  the 
morals.  .  *  ° 

stnct  sense  of  that  term;    but  some  of 

them  have  only  the  remotest  relation  to  health  and 
hygiene.    On  the  contrary,  they  relate  to  the  ethi- 


THE   PROBLEMS   FOR   SEX-EDUCATION  89 

cal,  social,  and  aesthetic  attitude  of  individuals  to- 
wards sex  and  reproduction.  Obviously,  these 
touch  problems  not  of  sex  health,  but  of  sex  moral- 
ity. In  their  educational  importance  I  believe  them 
as  great,  perhaps  even  greater,  than  those  of  sex- 
hygiene.  In  fact,  I  have  come  to  believe  that  many 
individuals  can  best  solve  all  their  own  sexual 
problems  on  the  basis  of  moral  and  aesthetic  attitude. 
Considering,  as  we  have  done,  the  sex  problems 
in  their  many  aspects,  we  are  forced  to  the  con- 
clusion that  sex-education  will  prove  Many.8i,jed 
adequate  only  when  it  combines  in-  instruction 
struction  from  the  several  points  of  " 
view.  It  must  be  much  more  than  the  sex-hygiene 
with  which  the  sex-instruction  movement  started. 
We  need  sexual  knowledge  that  will  conserve 
health,  that  will  develop  social  and  ethical  and 
eugenic  responsibility  for  sexual  actions,  that  will 
lead  to  increased  happiness  as  well  as  to  improved 
health,  and  that  will  give  a  nobler  and  purer  view 
of  life's  possibilities..  In  all  these  lines  in  which 
sex  influences  human  life  profoundly,  sex-education 
holds  out  the  hope  of  help  towards  a  better  life 
for  all  who  receive  and  apply  its  lessons. 


Ill 

ORGANIZATION  OF  EDUCATIONAL  ATTACK  ON  THE 
SEX  PROBLEMS 

§  15.   The  Task  of  Sex-education 

In  the  preceding  series  of  lectures  we  have  sur- 
veyed eight  important  sex  problems  that  can  never 
be  solved,  even  in  part,  unless  by  wide- 
solution  of  spread  information  that  specifically 
sexprob-  guides  the  individual  and  organized  so- 
ciety in  the  adjustment  of  sexual  instincts 
to  the  peculiar  conditions  that  obtain  in  our  modern 
civilized  life.  To  spread  the  knowledge  that  will 
help  civilized  humanity  on  towards  the  best  pos- 
sible adjustment  of  sex  and  life,  and  therefore  to  a 
pragmatic  solution  of  sexual  problems,  is  the  task 
or  the  chief  aim  of  sex-education.1 

Of  course,  only  the  ultra-Utopian  dreamer  claims 
that  sex-education  can  solve  all  the  sexual  problems 
No  hope  for  °^  civilized  life*  but  even  the  most  pessi- 
compiete  mistic  disbeliever  in  the  new  movement 
admits  that  knowledge  of  sexual  life  will 
be  helpful  to  the  great  majority  of  people.  Hence, 
it  is  worth  while  to  organize  the  educational  attack 

1  To  avoid  misunderstanding,  let  me  repeat  from  the  first  lecture 
that  I  am  constantly  thinking  of  sex-education  in  the  larger  sense ; 
and  instruction  in  schools  can  be,  at  best,  only  a  part. 
90 


EDUCATIONAL  ATTACK  ON  THE  SEX  PROBLEMS    QI 

on  the  sex  problems  which  we  have  considered  in 
the  preceding  lectures.  It  seems  to  me  that  we 
may  gain  an  advantage  by  frankly  admitting  that 
the  educational  attack  is  not  expected  to  solve  all 
sex  problems  for  all  people,  for  by  such  admission 
we  put  to  flight  those  shallow  cynics  who  have 
opposed  the  sex-education  movement  because  they 
think  (and  probably  correctly)  that  immorality  and 
social  diseases  and  all  other  sexual  disharmonies 
will  continue  to  exist  as  long  as  the  human  species 
does.  Likewise,  there  will  be  dishonesty  and 
murder  and  preventable  diseases  and  all  other 
human  troubles  in  spite  of  education;  but  the 
advancement  of  learning  has  slowly  and  progres- 
sively reduced  the  sum  total  of  all  the  dishar- 
monies of  life  until  now  civilized  people  are  largely 
free  from  many  of  the  original  or  barbaric  condi- 
tions. Along  similar  lines  we  may  confi- 
j  *i  *u-  i  e  *•  i  •  Constant 

dently  think  of  sex-education  as  making  advance 

a  constantly  advancing  and  victorious  toward« 

ideals, 
attack  on  the  problems  of  life  that  have 

grown  out  of  our  primitive  sexual  instincts.  Sex- 
education,  like  all  other  education,  strives  towaids 
ideals  that  individuals  and  society  may  always 
approach  but  may  never  reach.  It  is  only  another 
case  of  Emerson's  advice,  "hitch  your  wagon  to 
a  star,"  which  means  the  adoption  of  high  ideals 
that  lead  ever  on  and  on  towards  better  life. 

With  this  understanding  that  the  task  of  sex-edu- 
cation is  the  ever-advancing  improvement  of  sexual 
conditions  in  individual  as  well  as  in  social  life,  let 


92  SEX-EDUCATION 

us  turn  now  to  consider  the  possible  lines  for  definite 
educational  attack  on  the  chief  problems  of  sex. 
It  will  be  most  helpful  if  we  first  analyze  the  general 
task  of  sex-education  into  some  specific  aims  that 
may  definitely  guide  instruction,  and  then  in  later 
lectures  consider  the  methods  and  detailed  subject 
matter  of  sex-instruction. 

§  16.   The  Aims  of  Sex-education 

Since  the  revelations  concerning  the  disastrous 
physical  effects  of  sexual  immorality,  especially  as 
Em  basis  ^  ex^s^-s  m  *ne  commercialized  condi- 
on  social  tions  of  the  social  evil,  have  had  the  chief 
influence  in  awakening  intelligent  people 
from  their  age-long  ignorance  and  indifference  con- 
cerning the  great  sex  problems,  it  was  natural  that 
those  who  first  proposed  special  instruction  should 
have  emphasized  the  social  evil  and  its  diseases 
so  much  as  to  create  the  widespread  but  erroneous 
impression  that  the  great  aim  of  sex-education  is  to 
teach  the  distressing  facts  concerning  the  patho- 
logical consequences  of  immorality. 

Now,  without  in  the  least  underestimating  the 
vast  importance  of  the  emphasis  placed  on  sexual 
other  prob-  immorality  and  social  diseases  in  the 
lemsneed  splendid  pioneer  work  of  the  late  Dr. 
emphasis.  Morrow  and  others  for  the  sex-education 
movement,  and  without  suggesting  that  these  topics 
should  be  neglected  while  reorganizing  the  educa- 
tional attack  on  sex  problems,  I  believe  that  so  far 
as  formal  instruction  in  homes,  schools,  and  col- 


EDUCATIONAL  ATTACK  ON  THE  SEX  PROBLEMS    93 

leges  is  concerned,  we  may  gain  a  decided  advantage 
if  we  now  recognize  and  declare  boldly  that  the 
physical  effects  of  the  diseases  arising  from  the 
social  evil  constitute  only  one  of  several  groups  of 
sex  problems  that  organized  education  should 
attempt  to  solve. 

Concerning  the  other  problems  that  sex-education 
should  touch  with  great  definiteness,  it  is  my  per- 
sonal view  that  most  of  those  outlined  in  the  pre- 
ceding lectures  will  be  affected  by  instruction  along 
five  important  lines,  as  follows : 

(i)  The  scientific  truths  that  lead  to  serious 
and  respectful  attitude  on  all  sex  questions.  (2) 
The  personal  sex-hygiene  that  independ-  Five  lines  of 
ent  of  social  diseases  conserves  individual  instruction, 
health  directly  or  indirectly  through  sexual  normal- 
ity. (3)  The  ethical  responsibility  of  individuals 
for  the  physical  or  social  or  psychical  harm  of  their 
sexual  actions  upon  other  individuals,  e.g.,  in  prosti- 
tution and  illegitimacy.  (4)  The  hygienic,  ethical, 
and  psychical  laws  that  promote  physical  and  mental 
health  in  monogamic  marriage.  (5)  The  estab- 
lished principles  of  heredity  and  eugenics  which 
foretell  the  possible  coming  of  a  better  race  of  hu- 
mans. I  believe  that  in  these  five  lines  there  are 
educational  problems  of  present  and  future  greater 
significance  to  human  health  and  happiness  than 
are  found  in  the  social  evil  and  its  diseases,  com- 
mandingly  important  though  these  be.  Therefore, 
in  viewing  the  field  of  sex-education  with  reference 
to  the  possible  usefulness  of  knowledge  in  helping 


94  SEX-EDUCATION 

individuals  solve  the  vital  problems  that  have  grown 
naturally  out  of  the  reproductive  function,  I  believe 
that  we  are  logical  only  when  we  organize  our  edu- 
cational aims  so  as  to  give  scientific  instruction 
concerning  the  problems  of  sex  in  the  several  lines 
in  addition  to  the  physical  or  hygienic  aspects  of 
the  social  evil  and  its  diseases. 

As  I  now  see  in  the  large  the  sexual  problems 

which  scientifically  organized  education 

should  attack,  the  educational  aims  may 

be  grouped  under  four  general  headings  as  follows: 

First  and  most  important,  sex-education  should 
aim  to  develop  an  open-minded,  serious,  scientific, 
and  respectful  attitude  towards  all  problems  of 
human  life  which  relate  to  sex  and  reproduction. 

Second,  sex-education  should  aim  to  give  that 
knowledge  of  personal  hygiene  of  the  sexual  organs 
which  is  of  direct  value  in  making  for  the  most 
healthful  and  efficient  life  of  the  individual. 

Third,  sex-education  should  aim  to  develop 
personal  responsibility  regarding  the  social,  ethical, 
psychical,  and  eugenic  aspects  of  sex  as  affecting 
the  individual  life  in  its  relation  to  other  individuals 
of  the  present  and  future  generations;  in  short, 
sex-education  should  consider  the  problems  of  sexual 
instincts  and  actions  in  relation  to  society. 

Fourth,  sex-education  should  aim  to  teach  briefly 
to  young  people,  during  later  adolescence,  the  essen- 
tial hygienic,  social,  and  eugenic  facts  regarding 
the  two  destructive  diseases  which  are  chargeable 
to  sexual  promiscuity  or  immorality. 


EDUCATIONAL  ATTACK  ON  THE  SEX  PROBLEMS   95 

For  emphasis,   let  me  briefly  summarize   these 
aims  of  sex-education:  (i)  Serious,  scientific,  and 
respectful  attitude  of  mind  on  sex  ques-  Orderof 
tions;     (2)    personal    sex-hygiene;     (3)  importance 
social  and  ethical  and  eugenic  responsi-  ° 
bility  for  sex  actions;    (4)  relation  of  immorality 
and   social   diseases.    I   have   deliberately,  placed 
these  educational  aims  in  this  order  because  it  is 
the  order  of  greatest  permanent  importance  in  the 
sex-education  movement ;  it  represents  the  greatest 
value  to  the  largest  number  of  individuals  who  may 
learn  the  scientific  truth;   and  it  is  the  order  most 
natural,  most  logical,  and  most  effective  in  peda- 
gogical practice  with  young  people. 

Sex-education  organized  with  regard  to  these 
four  aims  will  touch  definitely  all  the  eight  problems 
of  sex  that  have  been  discussed  in  preceding  lectures. 
The  first  aim  will  directly  affect  the  problem  of 
vulgarity  and  indirectly  touch  those  stated  under 
the  third  aim.  The  second  aim  is  obviously  directed 

to  the  problem  of  personal  health  as  it  _ 

Relation  of 
may  be  influenced  by  the  sexual  pro-   aims  to 

cesses  of  one  individual  independent  of   pr°Dlems 

of  sex. 

others.  Of  course,  there  is  also  the  per- 
sonal aspect  of  social  diseases,  but  it  is  clearer  to 
consider  both  personal  and  social  aspects  of  these 
diseases  as  a  unit  in  the  fourth  aim.  The  third  aim 
is  based  on  five  of  the  eight  great  problems  which 
involve  individual  responsibility  for  the  social 
evil,  for  illegitimacy,  for  sexual  immorality,  for 
matrimonial  harmony,  and  for  eugenics.  The  social 


g6  SEX-EDUCATION 

aspects  of  the  venereal  diseases  obviously  involve 
personal  responsibility  of  the  individual  in  relation 
to  society  as  well  as  a  personal  hygienic  problem. 
Thus,  six  of  the  eight  great  sex  problems  are  essen- 
tially social  and  only  those  relating  to  personal 
hygiene  and  individual  attitude  are  so  distinctly 
personal  as  to  have  only  an  indirect  relation  to 
other  individuals,  as  might  be  true  in  case  of  un- 
harmonious  marriage  of  individuals  who  are  vulgar 
minded  or  who  have  been  injured  by  unhygienic 
personal  habits.  Finally,  the  fourth  ami  provides 
for  teaching  the  essential  facts  that  may  help  indi- 
viduals protect  themselves  directly,  and  society 
indirectly,  against  the  diseases  that  awakened  the 
world  to  the  need  of  sex-education. 

Let  us  turn  now  to  analyze  the  aims  of  sex-edu- 
cation and  consider  how  they  may  be  connected 
with  a  definite  scheme  for  sex-instruction. 

§  17.   The  Aims  as  the  Basis  of  Organized  Sex- 
instritction 

I  have  placed  first  the  aim  to  develop  a  serious 
and  respectful  attitude  toward  sex  and  reproduction 
because  at  the  root  of  the  sexual  problems  of  our 
times  is  the  prevailing  vulgar  interpretation  of  sex 
and  life  discussed  in  a  preceding  lecture  (§  n). 

Recognizing  the  great  importance  of  attitude, 
how  may  it  be  influenced  by  instruction  in  home 
or  school?  The  most  widely  accepted  answer  is 
that  the  best  beginning  may  be  made  through  study 
of  biology  (including  botany,  zoology,  and  physi- 


EDUCATIONAL  ATTACK  ON  THE  SEX  PROBLEMS    97 

ology)  and  through  nature-study  and  hygiene  taught 
on  a  biologic  basis.  No  other  method  of  introduc- 
tion to  sex-instruction  is  so  natural  and  Biology  and 
so  likely  to  lead  to  a  serious,  scientific}  attitude- 
and  open-minded  attitude  concerning  sex.  In  fact, 
a  large  part  of  the  study  of  reproduction  of  plants 
and  animals  in  courses  of  biology  in  schools  and 
colleges  has  its  value  chiefly  in  the  overwhelming 
evidence  that  problems  of  sex  and  reproduction 
are  natural  and  dignified  aspects  of  life.  Such 
biological  study  determines  attitude  in  no  small 
degree.  This  is  the  chief  justification  for  study  of 
the  reproductive  processes  in  a  series  of  animals 
and  plants  representing  stages  between  the  complex 
development  of  the  highest  animals  which  parallel 
human  life  and  the  lowest  forms  which  the  micro- 
scope reveals.  In  all  my  classes  of  twenty  years 
in  high  school  and  college  I  have  noted  a  marked 
development  of  serious,  scientific,  and  open-minded 
attitude  in  response  to  natural  and  frank  presenta- 
tion of  animal  and  plant  life-histories.  Moreover, 
I  have  many  times  requested  large  groups  of  students 
to  write  freely  and  frankly  concerning  the  influence 
of  biological  courses  upon  their  own  attitude ;  and 
their  papers  have  strongly  supported  my  observa- 
tion that  study  of  animal  and  plant  life-histories 
exerts  a  profound  influence  upon  the  attitude  of 
students  towards  the  human  problems  of  sex  and 
reproduction.  If  I  were  stating  a  defense  for  biology 
as  one  of  three  or  four  essential  science  courses 
for  general  education,  I  should  place  the  greatest 


98  SEX-EDUCATION 

emphasis  upon  the  study  of  animals  and  plants 
as  a  foundation  for  sex-instruction.  Certain  critics 
would  reply  that  all  the  biological  facts  that  are 
actually  used  hi  the  direct  human  application  of 
sex-instruction  could  be  taught  in  a  few  lectures 
without  a  year's  course  in  biology ;  but  it  is  a  demon- 
strated fact  that  a  few  isolated  lessons  do  not  give 
the  attitude  that  comes  from  a  good  course  of  biol- 
ogy taught  with  the  view  to  culminating  in  special 
sex-instruction. 

Only  recently  has  it  been  pointed  out  that  one's 
attitude  towards  sex  may  be  profoundly  influenced 
Literature  ^v  rea(^mg  certain  general  literature  that 
andatti-  holds  up  high  ideals  of  love  and  sex 

4.     j 

and  life.  It  will  be  most  convenient  to 
consider  the  influence  of  literature  on  sex-instruc- 
tion hi  another  lecture  (§  23). 

Now  let  us  consider  the  general  bearings  of  the 
personal  sex-hygiene  demanded  by  the  second  aim. 
Teaching  ^or  cnu<iren  under  ten  and  twelve  the 
personal  necessary  hygiene  should  be  presented 

'"  ygiene-  personally  (see  §  25).  For  young  people 
of  adolescent  years  there  are  four  possible  ways  of 
instruction  in  personal  sex-hygiene :  (i)  It  may  be 
added  naturally  to  a  course  or  series  of  lessons  in 
general  hygiene  including  the  problems  of  health 
for  all  systems  of  organs.  (2)  It  may  be  included 
in  a  study  of  vertebrate  and  human  reproduction 
in  a  course  of  biology  or  zoology.  (3)  It  may 
be  presented  by  a  special  lecture  that  is  inde- 
pendent of  all  regular  courses  of  study.  (4)  Spe- 


EDUCATIONAL  ATTACK  ON  THE  SEX  PROBLEMS   99 

cial  booklets  may  be  put  into  the  hands  of  young 
people.     Let  us  now  examine  each  of  these  ways : 

(1)  Sex-hygiene  as  a  natural  part  of  a  series  of 
lessons   in   general    hygiene    is    most    satisfactory 
when  preceded  by  biological  nature-study  Sex.hygiene 
or  high-school  biology  in  which  life-his-  in  general 
tories  of  organisms  have  been  studied     y&ene- 
for  the  sake  of  attitude.    At  present  we  lack  satis- 
factory  textbooks   for    this   kind   of    correlation. 
There   is   a   strong   reaction   against   independent 
courses  of  hygiene  in  high  schools,  and  the  next 
plan  is  becoming  more  common. 

(2)  The  inclusion  of  the  necessary  hygiene  of  all 
organs  in  courses  of  biology  or  zoology  that  have 
emphasized  physiology  and  its  bearings  Hygiene  in 
on  health  is  the  best  arrangement  so  far  biology, 
proposed  and  tested  in  practice.     It  has  been  tried 
with  success  by  Dr.  W.  H.  Eddy  in  the  High  School 
of  Commerce,  New  York  City,  and  by  other  high- 
school  teachers  working  along  the  same  lines.    The 
arguments  for  teaching  general  hygiene  on  a  bio- 
logical basis  have  been  presented  in  the  last  chapter 
of  "The  Teaching  of  Biology  in  Secondary  Schools" 
by  Lloyd  and  Bigelow,  and  put  in  textbook  form 
in  the   "Applied   Biology"  and   "Introduction  to 
Biology"  by  M.  A.  and  Anna  N.  Bigelow.    How- 
ever, personal  sex-hygiene  is  not  included  in  these 
textbooks,  because  educational  and  public  opinion 
do  not  yet  stand  for  such  radical  lessons  in  books 
for  schools. 

(3)  Special  lectures  on  sex-hygiene  independent  of 


100  SEX-EDUCATION 

biology  or  general  hygiene  are  at  best  makeshifts, 
and  not  without  dangers.  I  fear  the  effect  of  the 
s  ecial  abrupt  introduction  to  sex  problems  by 
lectures  on  special  lectures,  especially  for  girls  who 
hygiene.  may  ke  shocke(}  much  more  than  the 

average  boys  can  be.  I  heartily  sympathize  with 
parents  and  school  officials  who  object  to  special 
lectures  that  suddenly  focus  attention  on  problems 
of  sexual  health.  It  seems  to  me  that  special  lec- 
tures should  be  given  only  when  no  other  method 
of  teaching  is  possible.  This  applies  especially 
to  young  people  who  are  not  in  schools.  While 
I  have  stressed  biological  nature-study  as  offer- 
ing the  ideal  basis  for  the  broadest  kind  of 
sex-education,  I  realize  that  there  are  cases  where 
such  study  cannot  be  held  prerequisite  to  some 
aspects  of  sex-hygiene  that  young  people  should 
know.  However,  we  should  aim  to  make  such 
cases  the  exceptions  and  not  the  rule.  Some  good 
may  be  accomplished  by  teaching  certain  facts 
of  sex-hygiene  frankly  and  directly  to  those  who 
have  absolutely  no  knowledge  of  nature-study 
and  biology;  but  after  watching  the  reactions  of 
groups  of  boys  who  were  receiving  such  infor- 
mation, I  have  been  convinced  that  even  with  a 
limit  of  one  hour  for  instruction  a  biological  setting 
is  decidedly  important  in  that  it  gjves  an  indirect 
approach. 

(4)  Special  books  and  pamphlets  are  useful  when, 
and  only  when,  the  above  methods  are  impossible, 
but  certain  cautions  are  desirable  (see  §  22). 


FOR 
BIOLOGICAL     WESE/VP 


EDUCATIONAL  ATTACK  ON  THE  SEX  PROBLEMS  IOI 

The  third  aim  involves  some  difficult  educational 
problems.     Since    we    confess    that    we    know    so 

little   concerning  efficient   methods  for 

.   ,            ,  .          .     .  Difficulty  in 
ethical,  moral,  or  social  teaching,  it  is  ethical- 
evident  that  we  must  be  far  from  a  satis-  8ocial 

,  .  .  teaching, 

factory  plan  for  dealing  with  instruction 

which  is  intended  to  oppose  most  powerful  in- 
stinctive tendencies  and  long-established  habits  of 
sensuality.  Clearly  the  third  aim  sets  no  easy 
task  for  the  educator;  but  since  the  possible  solu- 
tion of  sex  problems  must  turn  on  the  sex  actions 
of  the  individual  in  relation  to  society,  the  ethical- 
social  aspects  of  sex-education  must  not  be  evaded 
because  the  way  is  not  yet  entirely  clear.  The 
fact  is  that  a  good  beginning  has  been  made,  espe- 
cially in  teaching  concerning  social  diseases,  heredity, 
and  eugenics. 

The  value  of  all  the  proposed  teaching  concern- 
ing the  relation  of  immorality  and  social  diseases 
is  more  ethical  than  hygienic.  Read  any  Social 
of  the  standard  literature  on  the  social  hygiene  and 
side  of  venereal  diseases,  especially  the  * 
masterly  writings  of  the  eminent  physician  and 
chief  organizer  of  the  American  movement  for  sex- 
education,  the  late  Dr.  Prince  A.  Morrow,  of  New 
York  City ;  and  one  notes  that  the  medical  facts 
have  bearings  hi  two  directions.  First,  they  indi- 
cate the  desirability  of  morality  as  a  protection  of 
personal  health;  and  second,  they  teach  that  the 
pathological  results  of  the  individual's  immoral 
living  may  be  passed  on  later  to  innocent  wives 


IO2  SEX-EDUCATION 

and  children.  The  first  is  as  clearly  personal  hy- 
giene as  teaching  that  impure  water  may  cause 
typhoid;  but  the  second  is  social  hygiene  and 
ethics.  The  second  is  more  impressive  to  all  but 
the  most  selfish  people. 

There  is  good  reason  for  believing  that  information 
concerning  the  social  diseases  is  more  likely  to 
impress  the  average  young  man  through  the  social- 
ethical  appeal  much  more  than  as  a  matter  of  per- 
sonal health.  Therefore,  a  biological  lesson  on 
social  diseases,  which  may  be  presented  most  logi- 
cally in  connection  with  other  germ  diseases,  may 
have  its  chief  value  in  that  its  meaning  is  social 
and  ethical. 

As  another  illustration  of  biology  touching  ethics, 
I  have  recently  come  to  believe  that  the  teaching 
Biology  and  concerning  heredity  and  eugenics,  which 
ethics.  should  be  a  standard  part  of  the  best  sex- 

instruction,  has  its  greatest  value  in  the  ethical 
appeal,  and  not  in  the  direct  biological  application 
of  the  laws  of  heredity  which  underlie  eugenics. 
I  realize  that  this  statement  is  likely  to  be  disputed 
by  those  biologists  who  see  in  eugenics  only  the 
possibility  of  controlling  heredity  so  as  to  propagate 
better  strains  of  humans,  just  as  breeders  of  plants 
and  animals  have  produced  better  domesticated 
varieties.  A  biologist  naturally  believes  that  the 
ultimate  aim  of  eugenics  is  improvement  of  physical 
and  psychical  qualities ;  but  considering  the  ethical- 
social-biological  complications  of  human  sex-prob- 
lems, it  seems  improbable  that  any  decided  and 


EDUCATIONAL  ATTACK  ON  THE   SEX  PROBLEMS     103 

extensive  improvement  is  likely  to  come  if  we  con- 
tinue to  limit  our  interpretation  of  the  principles 
of  eugenics  to  the  purely  biological  standpoint  of 
the  breeder  of  plants  and  animals.  Let  me  illus- 
trate by  some  concrete  facts  from  eugenics : 
^  There  is  a  widespread  opinion  among  science 
teachers  that  high-school  biology  should  present 
some  of  the  best  established  facts  of  heredity ;  and 
that  these  should  be  eugenically  applied  to  human 
life  by  means  of  such  illustrations  as  those  afforded 
by  the  histories  of  certain  degenerate  families,  such 
as  the  well-known  Jukes  and  Kallikaks.  A  brief 
sketch  of  the  history  of  the  latter  family,  as  de- 
scribed in  Dr.  Goddard's  interesting  book,  "The 
Kallikak  Family"  (Macmillan),  will  make  clear  my 
point  as  to  the  ethical  appeal  of  eugenics. 

A  young  man  of  good  ancestry  broke  the  moral 
law  about  one  hundred  and  forty  years  ago  and 
became  the  father  of  an  illegitimate  son  £u  eni 
by   a   feeble-minded    mother.    Of   480  and  ethical 
descendants  of  this  son,  there  have  been  teachins 
46  normal,  many  immoral,  many  alcoholic  and  143 
feeble-minded.    The  same  man  who  back  in  the 
revolutionary  days  made  a  moral  mistake  which 
led  to  such  awful  consequences,  later  married  a 
woman  of  good  family  and  became  the  progenitor 
of  a  second  line  of  496  descendants  of  whom  494 
have  been  normal  mentally,  while  two  were  affected 
by  alliance  with  another  family ;  and  all  have  been 
first-class   citizens,   many   of   them   prominent   in 
business,  professions,  etc. 


IO4  SEX-EDUCATION 

Even  making  due  allowance  for  the  depressing 
influence  of  the  environment  in  which  most  of  the 
down-and-out  descendants  in  the  degenerate  line 
lived,  the  comparison  between  the  normal  and  the 
abnormal  lines  from  the  same  ancestor  gives  the 
most  convincing  eugenic  evidence  that  has  been  dis- 
covered in  the  human  race.  Doubtless  it  will  long 
be  used  as  a  basis  for  attempted  biological  control 
of  the  propagation  of  the  unfit.  Many  similar  cases 
of  hereditary  degeneracy  are  recorded  in  books  on 
eugenics. 

Such  a  eugenic  record  as  that  of  this  Kallikak 
family  should  be  reviewed  in  every  high  school 
and  college  in  connection  with  the  topic  "heredity" 
in  a  course  of  biology,  for  it  will  teach  two  important 
lessons:  (i)  The  biological  principle  that  defects, 
both  physical  and  mental,  are  highly  heritable, 
even  for  many  generations;  and  (2)  the  ethical 
responsibility  for  the  sex  actions  of  the  individual 
who  may  start  a  long  train  of  human  disaster  that 
may  visit  the  children  unto  even  later  than  the 
third  and  fourth  generations.  The  first  lesson  is  a 
purely  biological  one  which  suggests  the  eugenic 
argument  that  defective  humans,  like  undesirable 
animals  and  plants,  should  not  take  part  in  the 
perpetuation  of  the  species.  The  second  lesson 
is  not  biological  but  ethical,  suggesting  individual 
responsibility  for  conduct  which  may  disastrously 
affect  other  individuals'  lives.  It  seems  to  me  that 
so  far  as  general  education  is  concerned,  the  ethical 
lesson  is  the  more  impressive  and  more  likely  to 


EDUCATIONAL  ATTACK  ON  THE  SEX  PROBLEMS  10$ 

lead  to  voluntary  eugenic  practice  by  individuals. 
It  is  my  observation  that  even  many  intelligent 
people  are  not  seriously  impressed  by  the  biological 
evidences  for  eugenics  considered  as  a  general  prob- 
lem, but  their  reaction  is  one  of  interest  when  one 
begins  to  present  the  question  of  ethical  responsi- 
bility for  the  transmission  of  physical  and  mental 
defects  to  future  generations.  Such  considerations 
have  led  me  to  the  view,  already  suggested,  that 
eugenic  studies  in  courses  of  biology  have  their 
greatest  practical  value  in  their  ethical  implications, 
which,  of  course,  by  influencing  individual  responsi- 
bility for  reproduction  may  lead  to  the  desirable 
biological  improvement  of  the  human  race.  Teach- 
ers of  biology  should  present,  as  an  economic  prob- 
lem, the  facts  which  will  make  better  breeds  of 
plants  and  animals  by  direct  application  of  the 
biological  laws  of  heredity ;  but  they  should  present 
and  apply  parallel  facts  to  human  life  in  order  to  in- 
fluence first  of  all  individual  responsibility  for  ethical 
control  of  reproductive  activity,  and  thus  indirectly 
work  eugenically  for  an  improved  human  race. 

Thus  the  aim  of  eugenics  is  most  likely  to  be 
attained    through    ethical    rather    than    biological 
application  of  the  teaching  which  our  Aim  of 
schools  can  give.     The  men  and  women  eugemcs- 
who  view  life  selfishly  with  no  feelings  of  ethical 
responsibility  towards  others  of  the  present  or  future 
will   take   no   practical   interest   in   the   biological 
problems  of  human  eugenics,  although  the  economic 
problems  of  plant  and  animal  breeding  may  interest 
some  of  these  same  people. 


106  SEX-EDUCATION 

In  addition  to  the  ethical-social  bearings  of 
biological  teaching,  our  sex-education  will  be  in- 
Education  complete  until  we  learn  how  to  attack  the 

and  other       sex  probiems  directly  and  effectively  with 

aspects  of 

sexprob-        reference  to  the  ethical,  social,  psychical, 

lems.  an(j  aesthetic  aspects.     Perhaps  we  may 

be  able  to  do  this  only  with  mature  people;  prob- 
ably it  is  too  much  to  hope  that  even  a  serious 
impression  will  be  made  on  all  intelligent  people; 
but  somehow  sex-education  must  be  completed 
by  adequate  presentation  of  these  aspects,  for  the 
problems  of  sex  are  satisfactorily  solved  only  in 
the  lives  of  those  fortunate  individuals  whose  vision 
of  the  relation  of  sex  and  life  combines  the  view- 
points of  biology,  hygiene,  psychology,  ethics, 
religion,  and  last  —  but  far  from  least  —  aesthetics. 
Finally,  the  educational  application  of  the  fourth 
aim  demands  some  explanation.  Sometime  in  the 
Only  essen-  adolescent  period  all  young  people  should 

tiai  knowl-      learn  the  essential  facts  regarding  the  two 

edge  of  .  ,     .         ,     . 

social  social  diseases  and  their  relation  to  im- 

diseases.  moral  living.  There  is  the  widespread 
impression  that  those  advocating  sex-education 
believe  in  giving  great  prominence  to  the  social 
diseases ;  but  in  opposition  to  this  I  cite  the  report 
of  a  committee  of  the  American  Federation  for  Sex 
Hygiene,  published  in  the  Journal  of  the  Society  of 
Sanitary  and  Moral  Prophylaxis,  January,  1913, 
and  later  reprinted  as  a  pamphlet  by  the  American 
Social  Hygiene  Association.  In  that  report  there 
are  twenty-three  recommendations  concerning  sex- 


EDUCATIONAL  ATTACK  ON  THE  SEX  PROBLEMS 

instruction;  but  only  one  mentions  social  diseases 
and  in  these  words:  "During  the  later  period  of 
adolescence  .  .  .  there  should  be  given  .  .  .  special 
instruction  as  to  the  character  and  dangers  of  the 
venereal  diseases."  That  seems  sufficient.  It  is 
not  desirable  that  young  people  should  review  the 
horrible  facts  relating  to  perverted  sexuality.  Ten 
or  twenty  brief  and  authoritative  statements  quoted 
impressively  from  medical  and  social  literature 
ought  to  give  fair  warning  of  lurking  dangers  in  im- 
moral living.  More  extensive  information  has  often 
proved  dangerous.  I  would  gladly  advocate  that 
this  dark  side  of  life  be  kept  in  sealed  books  if  I  did 
not  know  that  so  many  young  people  need  forewarn- 
ing and  definite  guidance.  Our  educational  system 
will  not  do  its  full  duty  if  it  fails  to  offer  the  needed 
help  so  that  it  may  be  obtained  by  all  adolescent 
young  people  who  are  not  so  fortunate  as  to  be 
guided  by  parents  and  other  personal  teachers. 


IV 

THE  TEACHER  or  SEX-KNOWLEDGE 

§  1 8.   Who  Should  Give  Sex-instruction? 

A  large  number  of  people  have  been  convinced 
that  young  people  need  knowledge  which  will  help 
them  face  the  great  problems  of  sex ;  but  they  with- 
hold their  approval  of  the  sex-education  movement 
because  they  are  not  satisfied  that  proper  teachers 
exist.  It  is,  therefore,  evident  that  we  cannot 
make  permanent  progress  by  emphasizing  the  need 
of  sex-education  unless  we  can  give  assurance  that 
qualified  teachers  are  available. 

The  situation  as  regards  teachers  of  sex-instruc- 
tion is  very  different  from  that  of  all  other  subjects 
The  teacher  concerning  which  young  people  should 
mostim-  be  taught.  We  cannot  safely  plan  the 
teaching  regarding  sex  until  we  know  the 
teacher.  This  will  be  evident,  I  think,  after  some 
general  considerations  concerning  selection  of  teach- 
ers and  some  discussion  of  problems  such  as  the 
first  teacher,  teachers  for  classes,  and  some  undesir- 
able teachers.  The  general  rule  should  be,  first, 
find  the  safe  and  sure  teacher  and,  second,  select 
the  facts  and  plan  the  lessons  that  the  chosen  teacher 
may  give  effectively. 

108 


THE   TEACHER  OF   SEX-KNOWLEDGE  IOO, 

So  far  as  young  children  are  concerned,  the  needed 
instruction  is  so  general  in  character  that  the  sex 
of  the  competent  teacher  is  of  little  im-  xeachersof 
portance,  but  the  information  that  ought  same  sex  for 
to  prepare  for  and  guide  through  the  c 
mazes  of  adolescent  youth  should  come  to  young 
people  from  teachers  of  the  same  sex.  If  exceptions 
must  be  made  rather  than  omit  instruction  alto- 
gether, some  very  mature  women  may  safely  guide 
both  boys  and  girls  through  adolescence ;  but  men, 
even  physicians,  should  not  undertake  instruction 
of  adolescent  young  women,  unless  parents  and 
other  mature  people  are  present  to  help  with  atti- 
tude. That  women  may  well  instruct  boys  I  know, 
because  the  most  impressive  sex  lecture  I  ever  heard 
was  given  by  the  late  Dr.  Mary  Wood- Allen  to  the 
boys  of  the  freshman  class  when  I  was  a  college 
student.  But  note  that  I  have  said  "some  very 
mature  women."  The  fact  is  that  I  fear  danger  for 
some  boys  if  they  are  frankly  instructed  by  attrac- 
tive young  women  who  are  only  ten  to  fifteen  years 
older  than  their  pupils.  Hence,  I  urge  great  caution 
if  there  must  be  any  exceptions  to  the  general  rule 
that  teachers  and  pupils  should  be  of  the  same  sex. 

I  realize  the  difficulty  of  applying  this  rule  in 
many  high  schools  where  the  foundations  of  sex- 
education  are  well  laid  on  the  biological  Coeduca. 
basis.     There  is  no  reason  why  the  bio-  tional 
logical  studies  should  not  be  coeduca-  classe8- 
tional  through  nature-study  and  biology  as  far  as 
the  development  of  frogs  and  birds  and,  hi  a  general 


IIO  SEX-EDUCATION 

way,  of  mammals.  In  fact,  both  of  my  textbooks, 
the  "Applied  Biology"  and  the  "Introduction  to 
Biology,"  which  emphasize  reproduction  of  or- 
ganisms more  than  other  high-school  books,  have 
been  used  throughout  in  coeducational  classes. 
However,  these  books  stop  where  the  problems  of 
human  life  begin  and  should  be  supplemented  by 
lessons  for  sex-limited  classes.  There  are  writers 
who  suggest  that  segregation  of  the  sexes  for  teach- 
ing concerning  human  life  may  be  at  present  a 
necessity  because  complete  frankness  on  sexual 
questions  is  certainly  obstructed  by  tradition;  but 
we  must  not  ignore  the  deep  social  reasons  why, 
in  general,  there  must  be  maintained  a  certain 
amount  of  reserve  between  the  sexes  in  the  consid- 
eration of  some  important  problems  of  life.  No 
educational  theory  or  practice  can  possibly  alter 
the  fundamental  physical  or  psychical  relations  of 
the  sexes  which  nature  seems  to  have  fixed  immu- 
tably. 

One  other  point  that  deserves  attention  in  this 
connection  is  the  common  statement  that  only 
Married  married  women,  preferably  mothers, 
women  as  can  be  competent  instructors  of  young 
women.  This  strikes  me  as  more  than 
absurd.  Personal  experience  is  not  always  necessary 
for  teaching  in  any  line.  The  greatest  medical 
teachers  have  not  had  the  diseases  they  describe 
so  clearly.  The  best  elementary  teachers  and 
specialists  on  the  care  of  children  are  not  always 
mothers;  on  the  contrary,  some  of  these  are  men. 


THE  TEACHER  OF   SEX-KNOWLEDGE  III 

The  fact  is  that  these  teachers  have  learned,  not  from 
personal  experience,  but  from  the  great  accumulations 
of  scientific  knowledge  of  medicine,  hygiene,  and  edu- 
cation. There  is  an  abundance  of  such  knowledge 
relating  to  sex  that  may  be  clearly  understood  by 
bright  women  who  have  no  bi-personal  knowledge  of 
sex.  Therefore,  I  believe  that  it  is  nonsense  to  insist 
that  only  women  with  complete  sexual  experiences 
can  be  efficient  guides  for  other  women. 

§  19.   The  Child's  First  Teachers  of  Sex-knowledge 

The  first  instruction  which  may  begin  to  lay  the 
foundation  for  the  individual's  sex-education  should 

be  given  in  early  childhood  by  parents,  or 

,   .    J  \*  '.       Mothers 

by  other  adults,  who  happen  to  be  on  the  and  other 

most  intimate  personal  terms  with  the  first 

,.,,_,.,,,.  ,  ,  teachers, 

child.     Usually  this  means  the  mother; 

but  there  are  numerous  cases  of  teachers,  gov- 
ernesses, grandmothers,  and  even  fathers  who  have 
greater  personal  influence  with  certain  children  than 
their  mothers  have.  The  essential  point  is  that  the 
child  should  be  instructed  only  by  an  adult  who  can 
exert  the  greatest  personal  influence. 

Many  parents  who  believe  in  sex-education  for 
their  children  hold  that  the  mothers  should  give 
all    necessary    hygienic    guidance    and  M^ers 
teach  the  elementary  facts  of  life  to  the  andadoles- 
children  of  both  sexes  in  the  pre-adoles-  c 
cent  years,  but  that  with  the  dawn  of  adolescence 
the  girls  should  continue  to  be  instructed  by  their 
mothers,  while  the  boys  should  be  guided  by  their 


112  SEX-EDUCATION 

fathers.  So  far  as  girls  are  concerned,  this  seems 
to  be  a  fairly  good  plan ;  but  nine  times  out  of  ten 
it  is  not  best  for  the  boys  for  several  reasons :  First, 
the  sudden  change  of  attitude  on  the  part  of  the 
mother  will  surely  impress  upon  the  boy  that  there 
is  something  about  sex  in  boys  that  even  his  mother 
dares  not  talk  over  with  him.  At  about  this  same 
time  when  the  mother  begins  to  avoid  the  sex  ques- 
tion with  her  boy,  he  will  surely  begin  to  get  vulgar 
information  and  impressions  from  his  boy  compan- 
ions. He  will  in  all  probability  begin  to  hear  the 
impure  and  obscene  stories  and  vulgar  language 
that  are  so  common  among  many  men  and  boys,  and 
he  will  be  sure  to  learn  that  the  vulgarity  which 
he  hears  must  not  be  repeated  in  the  presence  of 
his  mother  and  sisters.  It  is  a  most  critical  time 
in  the  mental  attitude  of  the  boy.  His  mother  has 
so  far  been  directing  him  towards  purity  and  then 
suddenly  sets  him  adrift.  If  there  is  ever  a  time 
in  a  boy's  life  when  he  needs  intimacy  with  his 
mother,  it  is  in  the  early  adolescent  years  of  twelve 
to  fourteen.  A  strong  mother's  heart  to  heart 
guidance  at  that  time  will  influence  the  boy  more 
than  all  the  sex-education  which  the  schools  and 
colleges  combined  can  ever  hope  to  offer.  Such  is 
the  problem  of  home  teaching  for  adolescent  boys. 
I  emphatically  protest  against  the  foolish  and  even 
dangerous  idea  that  because  a  boy  is  beginning  to 
metamorphose  into  a  man  his  mother  should  cease 
to  help  him  with  the  problems  of  sex.  Lucky  is 
that  adolescent  boy  whose  mother  realizes  her  duty 


THE  TEACHER  OF   SEX-KNOWLEDGE  113 

and  her  opportunity  and  holds  him  as  intimately  as 
if  he  were  a  girl  of  corresponding  age. 

§  20.  Selecting  Teachers  for  Class  Instruction 

The  references  to  "the  teacher"  in  the  following 
are  primarily  applicable  to  those  who  may  be  called 
upon  to  give  sex-instruction  as  class  work  in  schools, 
colleges,  churches,  the  Y.M.C.A.,  the  Y.W.C.A.,  and 
other  educational  organizations. 

The  chief  question  for  discussion  in  this  lecture 
is  that  of  selecting  the  teacher  of  those  phases  of 
sex-instruction  that  are  directly  related  to  human 
life,  that  is,  personal  sex-hygiene  and  sex-ethics. 
So  far  as  biological  facts  of  sex  are  concerned,  there 
are  no  special  problems  such  as  may  not  be  handled 
by  teachers  of  biology  in  general  according  to  the 
accepted  methods  (see  Lloyd  and  Bigelow,  "Teach- 
ing of  Biology  in  the  Secondary  School"  and  Bige- 
low, "Teacher's  Manual  of  Biology"). 

As  already  suggested,  a  large  part  of  the  sex-in- 
struction is  simply  an  extension  of  biological  science, 
hygiene,  and  ethics;   and  in  secondary  Regular 
schools  and  colleges  should  be  given  by  teachers  if 
selected  teachers  of  the  regular  staff  and  P08811* e- 
whenever  possible  as  a  part  of  regular  courses. 
There  may  be  some  necessary  modifications  to  this 
plan;   for  example,  in  Teachers  College  the  course 
on  sex-education  and  another  series  of  lectures  on 
sex-physiology  and  hygiene  for  women  are  open  to 
students  who  do  not  take  the  biology  courses  in 
which  the  sex-instruction  logically  belongs. 


114  SEX-EDUCATION 

The  culminating  stages  of  any  complete  scheme 

for  formal  sex-education  of  young  people  will  be 

sex-hygiene  considered  in  its  strict  sense 

hygiene         as  that  special  phase  of  sex-education 

and  ethics.     which   dealg   with   problems   of  health, 

and  sex-ethics  which  determines  the  responsibility 
of  individuals  for  control  of  sexual  instincts.  While 
nature-study  and  biology  and  general  hygiene  may 
be  organized  so  as  to  present  the  major  portion  of 
the  facts  which  should  be  included  in  a  complete 
scheme  of  sex-instruction  hi  schools  and  colleges, 
the  application  of  these  facts  to  personal  life  is  the 
most  difficult  problem  of  sex-education.  In  fact, 
it  is  the  only  real  problem,  for  long  before  sex-edu- 
cation became  a  definite  movement  the  most  effi- 
cient science  teachers  were  presenting  the  funda- 
mental facts  on  which  we  now  propose  to  build  with 
certain  hygienic  and  ethic  instruction  which  directly 
touches  the  personal  life  of  the  student.  As  already 
said,  the  human  application  will  require  only  a  few 
lessons,  preferably  in  connection  with  nature-study, 
biology,  ethics,  or  hygiene.  But  although  brief, 
such  instruction  is  the  keystone  in  the  arch  of  sex- 
education,  and  it  is  very  important  that  there  be 
no  serious  mistakes  in  selecting  the  teachers. 

I  have  mentioned  special  teachers  as  necessary 
for  instruction  with  direct  reference  to 

CAY 

specialists  human  life.  I  hasten  to  add  that  I  still 
agree  with  the  report  of  the  special  com- 
mittee (Morrow,  et  al.}  of  the  American 

Federation  for  Sex  Hygiene  that  it  is  not  desirable 


THE   TEACHER   OF   SEX-KNOWLEDGE  11$ 

that  any  teacher  should  make  a  specialty  of  this  type 
of  instruction  and  of  no  other.  We  do  not  want "  sex 
specialists"  in  the  schools  (see  pp.  10  and  20-23  °f 
the  Report  of  the  Committee).  It  is  important 
that  all  teachers  should  have  general  information 
regarding  the  sex  problems  of  young  people  hi  order 
to  be  able  to  help  individual  pupils. 

§  21.  Certain  Undesirable  Teachers  for  Special 
Hygienic  and  Ethical  Instruction 

It  will  be  most  helpful  if  we  consider  the  problem 
of  selecting  teachers  with  a  view  to  rejecting  those 
who  certainly  should  not  undertake  the  special 
hygienic  and  ethical  teaching,  for  teachers  who  are 
good  in  other  subjects  and  who  are  fortunately 
free  from  certain  disqualifications  discussed  in  the 
following,  may  by  means  of  study  adapt  themselves 
for  the  final  and  most  important  stages  of  sex-edu- 
cation. 

There  are  five  types  of  teachers  who  should  be 
regarded  as  disqualified  for  teaching  personal  sex- 
hygiene  and  sex-ethics. 

First,  those  men  and  women  who  are  unable  to 
speak  of  sex-hygiene  as  calmly  and  seriously  as 
they  do  of  any  other  phase  of  hygiene  Em 
had  better  not  undertake  the  instruc-  barrassed 
tion  of  young  people.     There  are  many  *' 
such    men    and     women    among     teachers    who, 
so  far  as  scientific  training  is  concerned,  ought  to 
be  good  teachers  of  sex-hygiene.     As  an  illustration 
of  this  attitude  that  leaves  the  wrong  impression 


1 1 6  SEX-EDUCATION 

with  students,  it  is  reported  that  a  good  teacher  of 
hygiene  recently  prefaced  a  brief  talk  to  college 
girls  as  follows :  "  I  shall  now  consider  a  process  that 
no  cultured  woman  ever  mentions  except  with  bated 
breath.  I  refer  to  menstruation." 

The  second  kind  of  people  who  should  not  teach 
sex-hygiene  are  the  men  and  women  who  are  the 
unfortunate  victims  of  sexual  abnormality,  either 
physical  or  psychical,  that  more  or  less  influences 
their  outlook  on  life.  Certain  neurotic  and  hysteri- 
cal men  or  women  who  lack  thorough  physiological 
training  and  whose  own  sexual  disturbances  have 
Abnormal  led  them  to  devour  omnivorously  and  un- 
teachers.  scientifically  the  psychopathological  lit- 
erature of  sex  by  such  authors  as  Havelock  Ellis, 
Krafft-Ebing,  and  Freud,  are  probably  unsafe 
teachers  of  sex-hygiene.  Especially  is  this  true 
of  the  women  of  this  type  whose  introspective 
morbidity  has  led  them  to  diagnose  their  own  func- 
tional disturbances  as  the  direct  result  of  "over- 
sexuality"  and  restraint  from  normal  sexual  ex- 
pression —  a  diagnosis  that  is  probably  wrong  nine 
times  in  ten  cases.  Such  a  woman  is  a  very  dan- 
gerous teacher  of  sex-hygiene  for  adolescent  girls; 
and  a  positive  menace  to  older  unmarried  women 
who,  if  free  from  absorbing  work,  may  spend  their 
leisure  in  becoming  more  or  less  restless  under  the 
unsocial,  if  not  unphysiologic ,  conditions  of  unwel- 
come celibacy.  This  is  no  imaginary  danger.  The 
reader  of  this  will  not  be  interested  in  details,  but 
the  author  has  received  from  physicians  and  others 


THE  TEACHER  OF   SEX-KNOWLEDGE  117 

reliable  information  concerning  several  extremely 
abnormal  women  of  the  above-described  type  who 
are  taking  an  active  interest  in  the  sex-instruction 
of  young  people  and  are  actually  suggesting  to  their 
friends  among  young  women  the  dangerous  and  un- 
true doctrine  that  prolonged  celibacy  for  women 
results  in  repressed  sexuality  that  surely  leads  to 
ill  health.  Such  ideas,  it  is  true,  are  traceable 
to  certain  well-known  radical  writers  on  the  psycho- 
pathology  of  sex ;  but  we  must  remember  that  the 
great  majority  of  physicians  and  other  scientific 
investigators  who  have  studied  such  problems  re- 
fuse to  believe  that  repressed  sex  instincts  in  either 
men  or  women  do  the  harm  that  a  few  extremists 
have  claimed.  But  even  if  it  were  known  beyond 
the  shadow  of  a  doubt  that  repressed  sex  instincts 
may  injure  people,  it  would  be  unwise  to  intrust 
young  people  to  instruction  by  teachers  who  have  a 
hypochondriacal  interest  in  such  a  doctrine  of  repres- 
sion. Such  suggestions  can  do  only  harm  to  the 
vast  majority  of  persons  who  receive  them.  To 
say  the  least,  it  is  unfortunate  that  the  psycho- 
pathology  of  sex  has  become  so  widely  circulated 
among  those  who  are  not  well  trained  in  physiology 
and  psychiatry. 

The  third  kind  of  people  who  should  not  be 
intrusted  with  teaching  sex-hygiene  are  the  men 
and  women  who,  without  a  scientific  perspective, 
have  plunged  into  the  literature  of  sexual  abnormal- 
ity until  they  have  come  to  think  that  knowledge 
concerning  perverted  life  is  an  important  part  of 


1 1 8  SEX-EDUCATION 

sex-education  for  young  people,  especially  for  those 
of  post-adolescent  years.  I  know  of  teachers  and 
Teachers  physicians  who  advise  young  people  not 
who  em-  much  over  twenty  years  of  age  to  read 
sexuaTab-  such  psychopathological  works  as  those 
normality.  of  Krafft-Ebing,  Ellis,  and  Freud,  and 
various  works  dealing  with  commercialized  vice. 
Here  is  a  grave  danger.  The  less  that  people 
without  professional  use  for  knowledge  of  sexual 
pathology  know  concerning  it,  the  better  it  will 
be  for  their  peace  of  mind  and  possibly  for  their 
morals.  Therefore,  I  urge  that  he  who  enthusias- 
tically studies  the  abnormalities  of  sex  lif e  without 
reference  to  scientific  research  or  professional  de- 
mands, is  not  likely  to  be  the  kind  of  teacher 
who  will  present  abnormal  life  only  so  far  as  is 
necessary  to  an  understanding  of  the  perfectly 
normal. 

The  fourth  kind  of  people  who  ought  not  to  in- 
struct the  young  in  personal  problems  of  sex-hygiene 
Pessimistic  are  the  men  and  women  whose  own  un- 
teachers.  happy  romances  or  married  life,  or  whose 
knowledge  of  vice  conditions,  have  made  them 
pessimistic  concerning  sex-problems.  There  are 
in  our  schools  and  colleges  to-day  some  such  men 
and  many  such  women,  and  there  will  be  danger 
for  young  people  when  the  growing  freedom  of 
expression  allows  these  sexual  pessimists  to  impress 
their  own  hopeless  philosophy  of  sex  upon  students. 
The  educational  world  does  not  need  such  teachers, 
but  rather  those  who  can  follow  the  late  Dr.  Morrow 


THE  TEACHER  OF  SEX-KNOWLEDGE  IIQ 

in  seeing  a  bright  side  of  life  that  almost  dispels 
the  darkness  of  sexual  errors. 

The  fifth  kind  of  persons  who  ought  not  to  teach 
the  personal  side  of  sex-hygiene  are  those  who  can- 
not command  the  most  serious  respect  of 
their  pupils.    This  applies  especially  to  not 
many  men  teachers  whose  flippant  atti-  respected 

,11..  by  pupils. 

tude  and  even  questionable  living  are  not 
likely  to  help  their  pupils,  especially  boys,  towards 
a  satisfactory  interpretation  of  sex  problems.  Of 
course,  such  teachers  ought  not  be  in  schools  at  all, 
but  the  fact  is  that  for  various  reasons  they  some- 
times get  there  and  stay  there;  and  so  they  must 
be  weighed  by  the  school  official  who  selects  the 
teachers  to  be  intrusted  with  special  problems  of 
sex-education. 

Summarizing,  I  have  in  this  lecture  aimed  to 
warn  the  school  administrator,  and  others  who  must 
select  teachers  of  classes,  against  the  kinds  of  teachers 
who  ought  not  be  chosen  for  presenting  the  special 
problems  of  sex-education,  especially  those  of  sex- 
hygiene  and  sex-ethics.    I  have  pointed  out  that 
there  are  five  serious  disqualifications;    and  it  is 
probable  that  if  strictly  applied  when  NO  in- 
choosing  teachers  for  special  sex-instruc-  struction 
,  .,1  i        i.     •  f    i  without 

tion,  there  will  be  elimination  of  three  or  satisfactory 
four  in  every  ten  of  those  whose  training  teachers, 
in  science  might  be  expected  to  qualify  them  as 
teachers  of  this  special  line.    It  is  a  fair  question 
as  to  what  a  school  or  other  institution  should  do 
if  it  has  no  teachers  who  are  free  from  the  above 


120  SEX-EDUCATION 

disqualifications.  My  own  belief  is  that  it  is  better 
to  get  an  outsider  for  the  handling  of  the  special 
problems.  If  this  is  impracticable,  then  suggest 
to  the  students  that  they  read  certain  books  such 
as  are  recommended  in  the  last  sections  of  this 
book.  Even  entire  omission  of  the  study  of  the 
personal  and  social  aspects  of  sex-hygiene  and  sex- 
ethics  is  far  wiser  than  intrusting  a  class  to  a  teacher 
with  one  or  more  of  the  negative  qualifications  that 
we  have  been  considering  in  this  lecture.  The 
effect  of  sex-education  upon  individual  lives  will 
in  no  small  degree  depend  upon  the  impression  made 
by  the  living  teacher  who  deals  with  the  difficult 
problems  of  sex  in  relation  to  hygiene  and  ethics. 
Hence,  the  greatest  care  should  be  taken  when  select- 
ing the  teacher  for  this  all-important  part  of  the 
student's  sex-education. 


V 

BOOKS  AS  TEACHERS  CONCERNING  SEX  AND  LIFE 

§  22.    Value  and  Danger  of  Special  Sex  Books  for 
Young  People 

There  are  many  parents  and  teachers  who  believe 
that  young  people  should  get  their  sexual  informa- 
tion by  private  reading,  and  numerous  B00irefor 
books  for  boys  and  girls  have  been  pre-  private 
pared  to  meet  such  a  demand.  The  r 
desire  for  such  "private"  reading  undoubtedly 
exists,  especially  in  boys;  but  this  is  part  of  the 
general  air  of  secrecy  and  vulgarity  that  has  en- 
shrouded the  truth  about  sexual  matters.  Many 
eminent  physicians  agree  that  there  are  elements 
of  physical  and  perhaps  moral  danger  when  a  boy 
reads  a  sex-science  book  secretly,  but  that  there 
are  few  such  possibilities  in  frank  and  scientific 
teaching  by  a  competent  instructor.  This  is  recog- 
nized by  leaders  in  the  Y.M.C.A.,  and  they  prefer 
to  read  books  with  the  boys  in  study  classes.  Many 
scientific  women  think  there  is  no  such  danger  for 
average  girls,  but  agree  that  girls  as  well  as  boys 
will  gain  in  respect  for  the  subject  of  sex  if  the 
atmosphere  of  secrecy  can  be  avoided.  Hence, 


122  SEX-EDUCATION 

while  books  for  private  reading  are  better  than 
ignorance,  they  alone  will  not  solve  many  of  the 
problems  at  which  sex-education  is  directed.  We 
must  cease  to  foster  the  secrecy  created  by  an 
atmosphere  of  obscenity,  and  the  study  of  sex  must 
be  brought  into  the  light  of  day.  Let  good  books 
be  recommended  through  parents  and  with  their 
approval  be  issued  freely  by  libraries  and  without 
restrictions  which  suggest  something  dark  and 
wrong.  Let  parents  and  teachers  encourage  such 
reading,  but  not  as  something  requiring  secrecy. 
Rather  let  such  books  be  read  as  freely  as  any  other 
good  books,  and  let  parents  and  competent  teachers 
follow  the  young  readers  closely  so  as  to  explain 
facts  and  help  develop  the  desirable  attitude  of 
mind.  Especially  let  parents  encourage  the  idea 
that  approved  sex-science  books  may  be  read  at 
the  family  fireside  as  properly  as  any  other  books. 
Above  all,  let  parents  and  teachers  work  in  every 
possible  way  against  the  time-worn  idea  that  prob- 
lems of  sex  are  essentially  vulgar  and  demand  se- 
crecy even  in  scientific  study.  We  must  have  a 
nobler  and  healthier  outlook  on  human  life  than 
that  which  so  commonly  prevails,  and  we  can  never 
get  it  by  secret  study  of  sex-science  by  young  people. 
Such  study  may  do  some  good  by  warning  against 
unhygienic  habits  and  social  diseases;  but  it  is 
certainly  inadequate  to  give  the  open-minded 
attitude  needed  so  much  for  appreciating  the  ethical, 
social,  and  aesthetic  bearings  of  human  life  as  it  is 
influenced  by  normal  sexual  functions. 


BOOKS   AS   TEACHERS  123 

It  has  been  urged  by  well-known  teachers  that, 
for  sex-instruction,  pamphlets  are  better  than 
books  in  that  they  do  not  hold  the  at-  Pamphlets 
tention  too  long  on  topics  that  may  be  vs  books- 
exciting  to  some  young  people.  On  the  other 
hand,  books  usually  make  a  stronger  appeal,  while 
pamphlets  are  likely  to  be  regarded  lightly,  as  are 
magazines  and  newspapers.  There  is  no  doubt 
that  most  sex  books  for  young  people  are  too  ex- 
tended, and  there  is  need  of  condensed  forty-and 
fifty-cent  booklets  in  place  of  the  books  commonly 
sold  at  one  dollar.  Three  or  four  small  booklets 
by  different  authors  read  at  widely  separated  inter- 
vals will  interest  and  influence  a  young  man  more 
than  one  large  and  comprehensive  book.  There  is 
besides  great  value  in  the  points  of  view  of  various 
authors. 

At  present  there  are  no  thoroughly  satisfactory 
books  for  adolescent  boys  and  girls.     In  my  opinion, 
W.  S.  Hall's  books  for  boys  are  the  most  reliable, 
and  his  "Life  Problems"  is  the  best  selection  of 
facts  for  girls;    but  some  mature  readers  criticize 
the  style  of  presentation.     Some  other  Better 
books  for  adolescent  young  people  are  books 
mentioned   with    critical    notes   in   the  n 
bibliography  at  the  end  of  this  book.    There  is 
still  plenty  of  chance  for  authors  to  experiment  in 
writing  books  of  this  class. 


124  SEX-EDUCATION 

§  23.  General  Literature  and  Sex  Problems 

In  the  world's  best  literature  there  is  much  that 
teaches  important  lessons  in  the  field  of  the  larger 
Sex  in  sex-education.  In  the  guise  of  love,  sex 

literature.  problems  have  always  held  the  prominent 
place  in  all  literature.  Many  a  great  book  teaches 
direct  or  positive  lessons  by  holding  up  high  ideals 
for  inspiration  and  imitation ;  but  some  of  the  most 
impressive  lessons  are  in  negative  form,  especially 
in  fiction  that  deals  with  the  tragedies  of  life. 

As  examples  of  literature  of  direct  influence  in 
helping  many  young  people  solve  the  problems  of 
Religious  sex,  we  think  first  of  that  which  holds  up 
books.  high  ideals  of  personal  purity,  such  as 

the  Bible  and  other  religious  books.  There  is  no 
doubt  that  such  literature  has  a  tremendous  influ- 
ence on  many  young  people ;  but  it  has  little  influ- 
ence on  others,  probably  in  part  because  the  some- 
what mystical  style  of  most  religious  writings  is 
meaningless  to  many  people. 

It  is  a  fact  that  many  young  people  who  refuse 
to  be  interested  in  religious  literature  may  be  influ- 
Appeal  of  enced  for  sexual  purity  by  the  emotional 
poetry.  appeal  of  some  general  literature.  This 

is  especially  true  of  romantic  poetry.  I  believe 
that  the  high  "idealism"  of  love  inspired  by  Tenny- 
son's "The  Princess"  and  "Idylls  of  the  King," 
by  Longfellow's  "Evangeline"  and  "The  Hanging 
of  the  Crane,"  by  some  of  Shakespeare's  plays,  and 
by  other  great  poetry  with  similar  themes  has  had 


BOOKS  AS   TEACHERS  12$ 

and  will  continue  to  have  greater  influence  on  the 
attitude  and  ethics  of  many  young  people  than  all 
the  formal  sex-teaching  that  can  be  organized. 
Hence,  I  believe  that  teachers  of  literature  should 
be  led  to  take  interest  in  the  larger  sex-education 
to  the  end  that  by  selection  and  interpretation  of 
great  masterpieces  they  may  contribute  in  a  valu- 
able way  to  the  solution  of  some  of  the  problems 
that  have  their  center  in  the  deeper  nature  of  sex. 
Interpretation  of  literature  by  teachers  is  very 
important  for  the  purposes  of  sex-education  of 
young  people.  As  an  example,  take  ^^^ 
Tennyson's  "Idylls  of  the  King,"  whose  ofinterpre- 
movement  centers  in  the  life  problems  * 
that  turn  around  love.  The  average  reader  is 
likely  to  miss  the  great  lessons  if  the  poem  is  not 
critically  interpreted  either  by  living  teachers  or 
by  such  critical  essays  as  those  by  Henry  van 
Dyke  in  his  "Poetry  of  Tennyson"  and  Newell 
Dwight  Hillis  in  his  "  Great  Books  as  Life-Teachers." 
Without  interpretation  "The  Idylls"  may  teach 
false  as  well  as  true  lessons  of  life.  Some  of  the 
Knights  of  the  Round  Table  (Galahad  and  Perci- 
vale)  were  worthy  followers  of  the  good  and  pure 
King  Arthur,  and  some  of  them  (like  Lancelot  and 
Tristram  and  Merlin)  proved  unable  to  live  up  to 
the  vow  of  chastity  to  which  Arthur  swore  all  his 
knights.  And  on  the  part  of  the  ladies  of  Arthur's 
court,  there  was  purity  and  devotion  and  true 
womanhood  in  Elaine  and  Enid,  while  Guinevere 
and  Ettarre  and  Vivien  were  unchaste  and  faithless. 


126  SEX-EDUCATION 

In  fact,  all  phases  of  the  relations  of  men  and  women 
in  the  struggles  and  perplexities  of  life  are  pictured ; 
and  therefore  it  is  important  that  a  well-trained 
teacher  should  be  the  guide  and  interpreter  if  the 
"Idylls  of  the  King"  are  to  be  read  with  the  idea 
of  understanding  their  true  bearings  on  life,  which 
includes  their  contribution  to  the  larger  sex-educa- 
tion. 

I  have  used  "The  Idylls  of  the  King"  as  an 
illustration  because  they  are  so  many-sided  in  sex 
problems ;  but  much  other  great  literature  may  be 
made  to  help  young  people  to  high  ideals  of  rela- 
tionships between  men  and  women.  I  have  em- 
phasized the  place  of  such  literature  in  the  larger 
sex-education  because  I  have  come  to  believe  that 
interpretation  of  life  either  real  or  in  great  literature 
may  have  profound  influence  in  the  development 
of  one's  philosophy  of  life.  As  a  matter  of  edu- 
cational procedure  insuring  that  young  people 
will  learn  to  interpret  life,  especially  those  aspects 
that  the  larger  sex-education  touches  so  definitely, 
there  appears  to  be  no  more  natural  and  unobtrusive 
way  of  approach  than  that  offered  by  the  study  of 
literature.  I  am  convinced  that  many  teachers 
of  literature  may  be  efficient  workers  in  the  cause 
of  the  larger  sex-education,  supplementing  the 
scientific  teaching  in  the  ethical  lines  where  science 
is  admittedly  weak,  if  not  helpless.  It  is  to  be 
hoped  that  numerous  tea,chers  will  soon  grasp  this 
opportunity.  If  they  will  study  the  sex-educa- 
tion movement  in  order  to  get  its  general  bearings 


BOOKS  AS  TEACHERS  127 

and  will  teach  the  sex  aspect  of  literature  on  a  basis 
of  high  ideals  of  life  and  love,  we  need  have  no  fear 
as  to  the  culmination  of  the  instruction  which 
properly  begins  with  study  of  the  biological  facts 
of  life  hi  its  sexual  aspects  and  leads  on  and  on  to 
its  climax  in  the  ethical  aspects  of  the  individual's 
sex  life  in  relation  to  other  individuals,  that  is,  to 
society. 

I  take  it  for  granted  that  no  teacher  of  literature 
who  contributes  to  sex-instruction  will  let  the  students 
know  that  the  emphasis  placed  on  great 

,   Not  to  be 
hie  problems  is  part  of  a  conspiracy  of  labeled 

parents  and  educators  to  give  hi  the  name  "  sex-educa- 

,  ...  .„    toon." 

of   sex-education   instruction  that   will 

help  prepare  the  individual  for  facing  the  prob- 
lems. Here,  as  elsewhere,  the  young  people  had 
better  be  left  unaware  that  their  elders  are  so 
interested  in  giving  them  instruction  regarding 
sex  problems  that  they  have  organized,  for  study 
of  ways  and  means,  a  movement  known  as  sex- 
education. 

The  abundant  literature  that  points  to  the  moral 
to  be  drawn   from    sexual   tragedies    has    doubt- 
less influenced  thousands  of  young  people.     I  have 
talked    with    many    educated    people  gex 
who    confessed    to    having    been    pro-  tragedies  of 
foundly   influenced   by   such   books   as 
Eliot's     "Adam     Bede,"      Hawthorne's   "Scarlet 
Letter,"  Goethe's  "Faust,"  Hardy's  "Tess  of  the 
d'Urbervilles."    One  might  go  on  and  compile  an 
extensive  bibliography,  for  fiction  of  all  languages 


128  SEX-EDUCATION 

of  all  times  is  full  of  the  errors  into  which  insistent 
sex  instincts  have  drawn  men  and  women  who  were 
not  masters  of  themselves.  All  standard  fiction 
in  which  sexual  errors  and  their  penalties  are 
associated  may  do  good  as  a  part  of  the  larger  sex- 
education,  but  the  teacher  should  make  sure  that 
the  young  readers  arrive  at  the  correct  interpreta- 
tion. 

Against  that  type  of  fiction  which  presents  sex 
problems  that  do  not  clearly  "point  a  moral,"  the 
Fiction  with-  average  so-called  "problem  novel"  of 
out  a  moral.  recent  time,  there  should  be  general 
opposition  by  workers  for  the  larger  sex-education. 
Many  of  the  modern  novels  and  magazine  stories 
seem  to  introduce  sexual  situations  for  the  same 
reason  that  Boccaccio  did  in  some  of  his  tales, 
namely,  the  attractiveness  of  lasciviousness.  Unlike 
the  commendable  novels,  it  is  characteristic  of  the 
equivocal  ones  that  no  penalty  is  demanded  or  paid 
and  no  moral  conclusion  is  suggested.  In  fact, 
the  way  is  very  often  left  open  to  an  immoral 
interpretation.  All  such  literature  certainly  tends 
to  work  against  the  aims  of  sex-education.  Perhaps 
parents  and  teachers  may  cooperate  to  keep  much 
of  this  kind  of  literature  out  of  the  hands  of  young 
people,  but  the  safest  procedure  is  in  cultivating 
taste  for  literature  that  does  teach  helpful  lessons  of 
life.  If  young  people  do  read  books  and  maga- 
zines that  seem  to  stand  for  uncertain  morals,  it  is 
best  that  parents  and  teachers  should  point  out  the 
moral  interpretations. 


BOOKS  AS   TEACHERS  I2Q 

§  24.  Dangers  in  Literature  on  Abnormal  Sexuality 

The  opinion  is  spreading  among  those  who  are 
studying  the  educational  problems  relating  to  sex 
that  there  is  great  danger,  even  for  many  adults, 
in  much  of  the  literature  describing  psychopatho- 
logical  and  abnormal  social-sexual  facts.  There 
are  enormous  quantities  of  such  literature,  partic- 
ularly concerning  the  social  evil.  It  is  extremely 
doubtful  whether  the  reader  who  is  not  directly 
engaged  in  medicine,  psychiatry,  or  social  reform 
will  profit  by  filling  his  mind  with  facts  from  the 
darkest  side  of  life.  No  doubt  it  is  important  that 
all  intelligent  men  and  women  should  know  enough 
about  sexual  immorality  and  the  life  of  the  under- 
world so  that  they  will  realize  the  necessity  of 
protecting  young  people  from  vice  in  all  its  forms ; 
but  this  does  not  mean  that  everybody  should  read 
extensively  in  the  mass  of  printed  matter  that  sets 
forth  the  most  awful  details  concerning  human 
depravity.  There  is'  a  real  danger  in  this  line. 
The  sex-education  movement  has  already  brought 
the  problems  of  sex  out  of  the  old-time  secrecy,  and 
no  other  topics  of  the  times  are  so  freely  read  and 
discussed.  This  might  be  well  if  the  reading  and 
discussion  always  took  constructive  lines  Danger  in 

leading  towards  improvement  of  sexual  present 

...  ,  interests  in 

relationships;    but  unfortunately,  much  theab- 

of  the  present  popular  interest  in  sexual  normal- 
problems  seems  to  be  a  morbid  craving  for  the  ab- 
normal.   We  find  this  tendency  in  the  demand  for 


130  SEX-EDUCATION 

a  certain  type  of  sex-problem  novels,  we  see  it  fre- 
quently on  the  stage  and  in  motion  pictures,  and 
we  hear  it  in  general  conversation.  The  adver- 
tised suggestion  of  sexual  immorality  in  a  forth- 
coming serial  novel  often  raises  surprisingly  the 
circulation  of  certain  magazines.  A  few  hints 
of  sexual  irregularity  in  certain  plays  have  brought 
crowded  audiences.  A  scandalous  divorce  case, 
reported  as  freely  as  the  law  allows,  is  a  choice 
morsel  for  average  readers  of  newspapers.  Every- 
where it  is  the  sexual  abnormality,  perversity,  and 
even  bestial  vulgarity,  that  seems  to  attract  the 
most  attention.  Books  and  magazines  and  theaters 
and  preachers  who  extol  the  normal  and  bright 
side  of  sex-life  are  not  now  extremely  popular  with 
the  masses  of  people.  As  a  well-known  magazine 
recently  summarized  the  present  situation,  "it 
has  struck  sex  o'clock  in  America."  There  is  no 
denying  the  fact  that  in  recent  years  the  popular 
interest  in  sex  problems  has  taken  a  dangerous  turn. 
It  is  time  for  those  who  are  active  in  the  sex-edu- 
cation movement  to  note  the  signs  of  the  times, 
for  an  effective  educational  scheme  for  young  people 
must  take  into  account  the  present  tendency  towards 
a  dangerous  interest  in  literature  relating  to  sexual 
abnormality,  especially  immorality.  All  this  tend- 
ency towards  interest  in  the  abnormal  or  irregular 
sexual  problems  must  cause  not  a  little  worry  to 
those  whose  interest  is  primarily  in  securing  wide- 
spread recognition  of  the  advantages  of  normal  and 
moral  living. 


BOOKS   AS   TEACHERS  131 

Perhaps  those  who  are  seriously  interested  in 
sex-education  may  help  stem  the  tide  towards  in- 

terest in  sexual  abnormality  by   using 

...         ,     ..         ,  ../  Need  of  in- 

greater  care  in  the  selection  of  literature,  terest  in 


both   for  young  people  and   for   their 

_  sex  life. 

elders.     I  recently  met  a  superintendent 

of  schools  who  had  carefully  read  certain  large 
volumes  on  the  medical,  psychical,  and  social  ab- 
normalities of  sex,  and  many  books  and  pamphlets 
on  the  social  evil.  Altogether  he  had  read  more 
than  five  thousand  pages  on  the  immoral  and  ab- 
normal aspects  of  sex.  He  wanted  to  know  where 
he  might  find  a  book  on  the  normal  side  of  sex  in 
its  physiological,  psychological,  and  ethical  aspects. 
Unfortunately,  there  is  no  such  treatise  by  an 
author  whose  scientific  standing  equals  that  of 
several  of  those  who  have  written  extensively  on 
the  abnormal  side;  and  probably  this  is  in  part 
the  reason  why  so  many  young  men  and  women 
are  now  molding  their  ideas  of  sexual  life  according 
to  the  patterns  described  by  the  authors  of  works 
on  social  and  sexual  pathology.  Not  a  month 
passes  in  which  I  am  not  astounded  to  find  men  and 
women  who  have  plunged  deeply  into  studies  of 
sexual  vice  and  pathology  and  who  know  less  of 
the  normal  biology  of  sex  than  is  contained  in  such 
books  as  W.  S.  Hall's  "Sexual  Knowledge"  or  the 
last  chapter  of  Martin's  "Human  Body,  Advanced 
Course."  This  is  indeed  a  strange  situation,  and 
we  might  compare  it  with  reading  extensive  works 
on  insanity  before  learning  the  elements  of  normal 


132  SEX-EDUCATION 

psychology.  It  is  certainly  a  useless,  if  not  a  dan- 
gerous line  of  approach  to  the  information,  concern- 
ing sex  which  intelligent  people  need.  The  leaders 
in  the  sex-education  movement  will  do  well  to  pro- 
mote the  circulation  of  some  brief  and  authoritative 
statement  of  the  chief  facts  relating  to  the  problems 
of  abnormal  sexual  life  and  then  to  discourage  the 
popular  circulation  of  the  extensive  works  which 
only  certain  physicians  and  social  reformers  need. 
I  know  that  there  is  some  difference  of  opinion  as 
to  the  effect  of  such  literature.  I  know  many  promi- 
nent educators  and  physicians  who  would  keep  the 
extensive  works  on  the  psychopathology  of  sex 
out  of  the  hands  of  all  general  readers;  but  I  also 
know  a  few  who  see  no  possibility  of  danger  in  wide- 
spread circulation  of  such  books. 

Looking  at  all  sides  of  the  present  situation, 
it  is  my  personal  conclusion  that  every  one  should 

learn  first  the  scientific  facts  regarding 
Limited 
knowledge     normal   processes    connected    with    the 

oftheab-       sexual  system ;  and  then  for  the  general 
reader  there  should  be  only  a  limited 
amount  of  warning  knowledge  regarding  the  dan- 
gers of  sexual  abnormalities. 


VI 

SEX-INSTRUCTION  FOR  PRE-ADOLESCENT  YEARS 

In  §  8  of  the  Report  of  the  Committee  of  Three 
of  the  American  Federation  for  Sex-hygiene,  by 
Morrow  and  others,  the  life  of  the  child  Periods  of 
was  divided  into  four  periods,  namely,  —  early  life, 
under  six  years,  from  six  to  twelve,  twelve  to  six- 
teen, sixteen  to  maturity.  This  division  now  seems 
to  me  to  be  too  arbitrary,  and  I  have  come  to  believe 
that  it  is  more  helpful  to  consider  sex-instruction  for 
three  periods  as  follows :  pre-adolescence  (ending  at 
eleven  to  fourteen  years) ;  early  adolescence  (twelve 
to  sixteen  years  for  girls,  thirteen  to  seventeen  for 
boys) ;  later  adolescence  (sixteen  to  twenty-one  for 
girls,  eighteen  to  twenty-five  for  boys). 

§  25.   Elementary  Instruction  and  Influence 

The  life-histories  of  plants  and  animals  as  taught 
in  the  best  nature-study 1  are  important  in  forming 
attitude  towards  reproduction  and  giving  Nature- 
a'basis  for  simple  and  truthful  answers  to  8tudy- 
the  child's  questions  as  to  the  origin  of  the  indi- 

1  See  books  on  nature-study,  e.g.,  Holtz's  "Nature-Study," 
Hodge's  "Nature-Study  and  Life,"  Comstock's  "Handbook  of 
Nature-Study."  Morley's  "Renewal  of  Life,"  March's  "Towards 
Racial  Health,"  and  Hall's  "The  Doctor's  Daughter"  suggest  the 
main  lines  of  the  nature-study  approach  to  sex-education. 
133 


134  SEX-EDUCATION 

vidual  human  life.  The  publications  listed  in  the 
last  section  of  this  book  under  the  headings  "For 
Girls"  and  "For  Boys"  will  help  parents  and 
teachers. 

There  is  need  of  little  private  hygienic  instruction, 
but  of  much  guidance  away  from  harmful  habits. 
This  will  be  indicated  in  the  next  section  which 
considers  masturbation  as  it  concerns  children  of 
both  sexes  and  all  ages. 

The  protection  of  children  from  corrupting  influ- 
ences is  an  important  work  of  sex-education  in  pre- 
adolescent  years.  Probably  the  greatest  safety 
lies  in  parents  giving  simple  facts  regarding  repro- 
duction and  in  cultivating  confidence  so  that  any 
accidental  contact  of  their  children  with 
vulgarity  will  be  counteracted  in  ad- 
vance. Many  parents,  especially  mothers,  have 
found  this  possible. 

In  the  years  between  ten  and  twelve  every  child 
should  learn  from  a  parent  or  other  adult  confidant 
Girls' prep-  some  general  facts  regarding  their 
arationfor  approaching  puberty.  This  is  especially 
important  hi  the  case  of  girls,  for  many 
a  girl  has  been  physically  and  mentally  injured 
because  a  prudish  mother  has  procrastinated  too 
long  the  giving  of  information  regarding  the  first 
menstrual  period.  The  facts  in  the  first  thirty 
pages  of  W.  S.  Hall's  "Life  Problems"  should  be 
known  by  many  girls  of  eleven  and  by  the  great 
majority  before  thirteen.  Some  books  for  young 
girls  are  defective  in  that  they  avoid  reference  to 


PRE-ADOLESCENT  YEARS  135 

the  coming  changes.  I  see  no  excuse  for  a  sex- 
hygiene  book  for  girls  who  are  too  young  to  be 
trusted  with  the  simplest,  knowledge  regarding 
menstruation.  Such  children  should  be  interested 
in  nature  studies  and  perhaps  the  elements  of  gen- 
eral hygiene,  but  certainly  not  in  books  with  curi- 
osity-stimulating titles. 

Since  boys  entering  puberty  pass  through  no 
such  sharply  defined  beginning  as  girls  do,  the 
information  they  need  in  advance  is  not  so  specific. 
At  the  same  time,  we  must  recognize  that  the 
average  boy  under  twelve  years  picks  up  more 
information  regarding  sexual  life  than  a  girl  does, 
and  so  the  problem  of  teaching  self-control  comes 
earlier,  although  the  average  girl  enters  Special 
puberty  a  year  or  two  before  the  boy.  needs  of 
Parents  and  teachers  must  recognize  the  oys' 
fact  that  sexual  tendencies  come  to  many  boys 
several  years  before  puberty,  and  masturbation 
and  even  premature-  sexual  intercourse  are  possible 
problems  with  many  boys  long  before  the  twelfth 
year.  The  boy's  early  gathering  of  sexual  informa- 
tion is  not  without  advantage,  for  it  becomes  pos- 
sible for  parents  and  other  adult  confidants  to  ex- 
plain many  important  truths  as  to  the  proper  use 
of  his  sex  organs  and  as  to  his  conduct  towards 
girls.  All  this  can  be  done  with  the  average  boy 
of  eleven  or  twelve  and  with  hundreds  of  even  nine 
and  ten  without  any  fear  of  giving  information  that 
is  startlingly  new  and  without  any  danger  of  giving 
a  nervous  shock. 


136  SEX-EDUCATION 

It  is  not  so  with  average  girls  of  equal  ages,  if 
we  may  accept  the  opinion  of  many  women  who 
Cautious  are  tramed  in  science  and  medicine, 
teaching  Specific  information  as  to  the  functional 
of  girls.  relationships  of  the  two  sexes  is  said  by 
many  educated  women  to  have  been  absolutely 
new  and  startling  to  them  at  twenty  and  twenty- 
five  years.  Evidently  there  is  a  special  reason  for 
gradual  and  cautious  teaching  of  girls,  and  so  it  is 
probably  best,  as  many  parents  urge,  that  in  pre-ado- 
lescent  years  the  girl's  instruction  in  social-sexual 
lines  be  training  in  modest  deportment  and  a  proper 
reserve  towards  boys.  This  ought  to  be  sufficient 
for  the  girl's  protection  until  gradually  in  adolescent 
years  she  learns  the  whole  story  of  life,  probably  sev- 
eral years  later  than  her  boy  friends  whose  natural 
leadership  in  sexual  activity  makes  their  early  in- 
formation desirable  as  a  protection  to  both  sexes. 

In  the  pre-adolescent  years  parents  and  teachers 
should  cooperate  in  developing  a  spirit  of  group 
Children's  fellowship  between  boys  and  girls  and 
friendships.  at  ^e  sa.me  tmie  mstill  mto  the  boys 

something  of  that  chivalrous  and  protective  atti- 
tude of  boys  towards  girls  such  as  one  finds  in  the 
families  of  the  highest  culture.  I  emphatically 
mean  "group  fellowship,"  for  it  is  certainly  undesir- 
able to  encourage  in  pre-adolescents  any  tend- 
ency towards  paired  comradeship.  It  is  certainly 
best  that  boys  and  girls  should  have  many  good 
friends  of  both  sexes.  The  real  truth  back  of  the 
old  adage  "two  is  company  and  three  is  a  crowd" 


PRE-ADOLESCENT  YEARS  137 

makes  the  "crowd"  highly  desirable  for  both  pre- 
adolescence  and  early  adolescence,  for  in  these  years 
it  is  friendship  and  not  romantic  love  that  will  be 
most  helpful  in  the  later  life.  As  one  step  in  this 
direction,  all  sensible  adults  should  show  their  dis- 
favor to  the  abominable  habit  of  teasing  small  chil- 
dren concerning  their  best  friends  of  the  other  sex. 
Parents  and  teachers  will  do  some  of  the  best  work 
in  the  larger  sex-education  if  they  begin  in  pre- 
adolescent  years  to  develop  the  social  life  of  the 
children  along  lines  similar  to  those  suggested  above. 
Summarizing,  it  is  evident  that  there  is  very 
little  direct  sex-instruction  suitable  for  pre-adoles- 
cent  years.  So  far  as  the  child's  own 

..,    .  .    .  ,         Summary. 

Life  is  concerned,  it  now  seems  clear  that 
parents  or  other  adult  confidants  must  instruct  in- 
dividuals, or  possibly  small  uniformly  selected  groups. 
Class  instruction  seems  out  of  the  question  except 
for  lif e-history  studies  of  animals  and  plants.  On  the 
whole,  then,  there  is  -nothing  radical  or  impossible  in 
the  proposition  that  there  should  be  a  beginning  of 
sex-education  before  the  advent  of  adolescence. 

§  26.  Hygienic  and  Educational  Treatment  of  Un- 
healthful  Habits 

All  adults  should  take  a  sane  and  scientific  view 
of  the  sex  problems  that  are  likely  to  come  even 
to  normal  children.  We  must  remember  Problems  of 
that  they  are  born  with  sexual  median-  children- 
isms  that  may  easily  and  automatically  lead  into 
harmful  habits  unless  parents  and  teachers  guide 


138  SEX-EDUCATION 

hygienically  and  mentally  along  the  lines  that  are 
known  to  offer  safety. 

Concerning  habitual  manipulation  of  the  sexual 
organs  of  either  sex,  known  in  medical  literature  as 
Masturba-  masturbation  or  self-abuse  (often  errone- 
tion.  ously  called  "onanism"),  there  are  cer- 

tain facts  that  are  important  for  the  guidance  of 
all  parents  and  teachers.  I  discuss  it  in  this  con- 
nection since  the  problem  often  arises  in  the  later 
years  of  the  pre-adolescent  period. 

It  is  absurd  to  suppose  that  the  tendency  towards 
the  habit  means  degeneracy  or  innate  viciousness 
Does  not  °^  children.  Young  horses,  dogs,  mon- 
indicate  de-  keys,  and  other  animals  sometimes  form 
sracy'  a  similar  habit,  the  stimulus  being  some 
irritation  of  the  sexual  organs.  Hence,  it  is  not  at 
all  unnatural  when  children  attempt  to  relieve 
their  irritated  organs  by  friction,  and  then  it  is 
inevitable  that  the  sensitive  nerve  endings  will 
give  sensations  that  are  more  or  less  pleasurable  and 
satisfying,  depending  upon  the  sex,  age,  and  emo- 
tional peculiarity  of  the  individual  child.  This 
fact  suggests  to  parents  and  teachers  the  methods 
of  prophylaxis ;  namely,  avoid  (i)  irritation  of  sexual 
organs  and  (2)  opportunity  for  manipulation. 

With  regard  to  irritation,  the  first  sign  of  such 

disturbance    may    appear    in    babyhood.    In    the 

case  of  boys,  whose  structure  renders 

Irritation.  . 

them  vastly  more  liable  than  girls  to 
external  irritation,  the  family  physician  should 
make  sure  during  infancy  whether  circumcision 


PRE- ADOLESCENT   YEARS  139 

or  a  stretching  of  the  prepuce  (foreskin)  may  be 
desirable.  According  to  Dr.  Emmet  Holt,  the 
eminent  pediatrician,  about  one  male  baby  in  four 
or  five  is  born  with  an  elongated  or  tight  prepuce 
that  needs  surgical  attention.  A  corresponding 
abnormality  of  the  clitoris  is  sometimes  found  in 
baby  girls.  Some  radical  surgeons  advocate  uni- 
versal circumcision  of  boys  because  they  circum- 
believe  that  it  reduces  local  irritation,  cisi°n- 
favors  cleanliness,  tends  to  prevent  masturbation, 
and  reduces  susceptibility  to  the  venereal  diseases. 
There  is  certainly  some  truth  in  these  claims;  but 
some  conservative  surgeons  point  out  that  for  the 
great  majority  of  boys  all  these  advantages  may  be 
obtained  by  reasonable  attention  to  hygienic  habits, 
that  orthodox  Jewish  and  other  circumcised  boys 
are  by  no  means  free  from  harmful  habits,  that 
some  boys  are  more  irritable  after  circumcision, 
that  preputial  stretching  is  often  a  good  substitute 
for  circumcision,  and  that  the  taunts  of  other  boys 
often  make  circumcised  boys  too  conscious  of  their 
own  mutilation.  A  scientific  doctor  who  has  no 
special  financial  interest  in  the  increase  of  surgical 
operations  and  who  carefully  reviews  both  the  radi- 
cal and  conservative  literature  relating  to  circum- 
cision, will  not  hasten  to  submit  boys  to  this  opera- 
tion until  it  is  certain  that  their  sexual  organs  happen 
to  have  congenital  deformity  that  only  radical 
surgical  treatment  can  correct. 

In  addition  to  making  sure  that  uncleanliness  or 
structural  abnormality  are  not  responsible  for  irri- 


I4O  SEX-EDUCATION 

tation  of  sex  organs,  there  are  some  special  hygienic 
rules  useful  for  parents  and  teachers  who  have  charge 
Hygienic  of  children.  Most  important  is  avoid- 
rules-  ance  of  habit  formation.  Clothing 

should  be  well  adjusted  to  avoid  pressure  and 
friction  of  the  sexual  organs,  and  so  constructed 
(especially  night  clothing)  that  it  is  not  convenient 
for  the  hands  to  reach  the  organs.  Normal  boys 
require  pockets,  but  they  should  open  at  the  waist- 
band and  not  at  the  side  of  the  hips.  The  reason 
for  these  suggestions  is  evident.  When  we  recall 
that  little  children  naturally  tend  to  explore  them- 
selves, such  as  by  putting  fingers  into  the  mouth, 
feeling  their  toes,  inserting  foreign  objects  into  nose 
and  ears,  and  when  we  also  recall  how  quickly  a 
child  may  learn  the  habit  of  sucking  its  thumb, 
we  must  realize  the  importance  of  guarding  the  child 
from  extending  such  activities  to  its  sexual  organs, 
which,  because  they  possess  the  most  sensitive 
nerve  endings  in  the  body,  are  most  liable  to  lead 
to  habitual  manipulation.  In  the  light  of  such 
facts,  it  is  nonsense  to  assume,  as  so  many  good 
mothers  have  done,  that  only  innately  vicious  chil- 
dren learn  masturbation.  The  truth  is  that  in  the 
case  of  most  children  under  twelve  this  habit  has 
an  origin  no  more  vicious  than  such  habits  as 
thumb-sucking ;  and  in  all  cases  of  habits,  parents 
Other  sug-  an(^  others  responsible  for  the  children 
gestionsfor  should  be  given  the  blame. 

The  following  suggestions  in  addition 
to  those  above  are  likely  to  help  parents  do  much 


PRE-ADOLESCENT   YEARS  141 

towards  avoiding  or  solving  the  early  sex  problems 
of  their  children.  These  facts  apply  also  to  later 
years. 

Have  children  sleep  on  a  hard  mattress.  The 
old-time  feather  bed  was  dangerous.  There  should 
be  light-weight  covers,  and  the  room  cool.  Chil- 
dren should  sleep  on  either  side,  rarely  in  the  un- 
natural back  position.  Aim  to  have  regular  sleep- 
ing hours ;  but  do  not  send  children  to  bed  unsuper- 
vised  when  they  are  excited  and  not  tired  enough 
for  immediate  sleep.  Have  them  arise  as  soon  as 
wide  awake  in  the  morning.  Never  punish  children 
by  sending  them  to  bed. 

Do  not  leave  children  to  their  own  devices ;  they 
may  naturally  fall  into  dangerous  play.    Privacy 
is  often   demanded  by   the  moods   of  Dangers  of 
adults,  but  it  is  dangerous  for  children,  privacy. 
A  certain  camp  for  boys  has  the  commendable  rule 
that  the  boys  have  no  privacy  during  the  entire 
summer.     Many    educators    and    physicians    con- 
demn private  bedrooms  or  cubicles  in  schools  for 
boys. 

A  strenuous  life  of  physical  and  mental  activity 
is  the  best  solution  of  personal  control  of  sexual 

instincts.    Reasonable     athletics     and 

. ,     ,  ,  .       .         ..       Athletics, 

study  make  an  ideal  combination  for 

both  boys  and  girls.  And  yet  we  must  not  trust 
absolutely  to  athletics  or  other  physical  work,  for 
there  are  certainly  many  individuals  whose  sexual 
desires  are  not  controlled  by  muscular  exercise. 
Much  of  the  formal  athletic  training  may  have 


142  SEX-EDUCATION 

no  more  influence  on  sexual  control  than  dogmatic 
creeds. 

Strong  condiments  and  alcoholic  drinks  are  known 
to  be  sexual  excitants  for  many  people,  and  for  this 
and  other  hygienic  reasons  should  be 
forbidden  to  children.     There  is  a  wide- 
spread, but  still  undemonstrated  opinion  that  tea, 
coffee,  tobacco,  and  strong  condiments  have  an  ex- 
citing effect.    However,  there  is  plenty  of  scientific 
authority,  based  on  other  hygienic  grounds,  for 
avoiding  these  at  least  during  the  years  of  growth. 

Constipation  is  likely  to  cause  sexual  irritation, 
and  hence  this  is  an  additional  reason  for  sub- 
mitting children  to  competent  doctors 
Constipation.  c 

for  treatment  of  this  disturbance  which 

so  seriously  affects  general  health,   especially  by 
auto-intoxication. 

Cool  bathing  in  the  morning,  especially  of  the 
sexual  organs,  is  hygienic,  except  for  girls  during 

the  monthly  periods  (including  two  days 

before  the  expected  menstrual  onset). 

For  various  reasons,  bathing  hi  very  warm  water 

should  be  very  limited,  and  then  only  for  cleansing. 

In  hygienic  instructions  to  children,  avoid  giving 

them  any  ideas  concerning  the  supposed  prevalence 

of  the  habit  of  masturbation.  There  is  a 
sfruction!1  dangerous  tendency  to  follow  the  crowd. 

Also,  the  habit  should  never  be  de- 
scribed to  children  except  as  "unnecessary  handling 
of  the  sex  organs."  It  is  dangerous  to  suggest  to 
children,  as  certain  books  do,  that  there  is  any 


PRE-ADOLESCENT  YEARS  143 

pleasurable  sensation  resulting  from  manual  manip- 
ulation of  the  organs,  for  the  force  of  suggestion 
or  curiosity  has  led  some  children  to  experiment 
with  themselves  until  they  formed  the  habit. 

There  are  no  absolutely  certain  signs  or  symptoms, 
and  those  suggested  by  certain  authors,  especially  by 

quack  doctors,  make  young  people  and 

j.         •    j  Symptoms, 

even  parents  and  teachers  judge  some 

individuals  in  an  unfortunate  way.  Especially 
should  parents  and  teachers  remember  that  there  is 
absolutely  no  scientific  basis  for  supposing  that 
great  difiidence,  indigestion,  pimples  on  the  face, 
boys'  lack  of  interest  in  girls,  and  numerous  other 
popular  "signs,"  are  indications  of  the  masturba- 
tion habit.  Like  the  symptoms  in  patent-medicine 
advertising,  the  above  "signs"  are  so  general  that 
they  are  sure  to  fit  some  cases. 

Do  not  tell  children  the  ancient  falsehood  that 
insanity  will  surely  result  from  handling  the  sexual 

organs.     It  is  true  that  masturbation  is 

Insanity 
a   common   habit   of   certain   types  of 

insane  people  and  of  some  neurotics ;  but  it  is  prob- 
able that  the  habit  is  more  often  one  of  several 
factors  rather  than  the  direct  cause  of  the  nervous 
breakdown.  However,  it  is  scientific  to  say  that 
the  habit  may  weaken  the  nervous  system  and 
indirectly  affect  general  health,  especially  in  pre- 
adolescent  and  early  adolescent  years.  Probably 
the  greatest  nervous  damage  comes  because  there 
is  often  greater  excess  than  is  possible  in  natural 
sexual  relations;  the  strain  of  all  sexual  excess  is 


144  SEX-EDUCATION 

more  in  loss  of  nervous  energy  than  of  secretions. 
The  safest  advice  one  can  give  children  is  that  the 
doctors  agree  that  unnecessary  touching  of  sexual 
organs  has  interfered  with  the  health  of  many  chil- 
dren and  that  those  who  avoid  this  are  most  likely 
to  grow  up  strong  in  body  and  mind.  This  is  the 
truth  and  practically  the  whole  of  the  known  truth 
that  might  have  influence  with  young  people. 

Mental  masturbation  or  "day  dreaming"  con- 
cerning sexual  functions  is  probably  more  harmful 
Mental  than  mechanical  manipulation.  It  is 
habit.  believed  to  be  more  common  in  young 

women  than  in  men.  However,  there  is  little  reli- 
able evidence  as  to  the  prevalence  of  the  habit. 
As  an  educational  problem,  there  is  nothing  to  be 
done  beyond  informing  all  adolescent  young  people 
that  allowing  their  minds  to  dwell  on  sexual  affairs 
may  interfere  with  nervous  health,  scholarship, 
and  future  efficiency  in  life.  Hard  mental  and 
physical  work  and  strenuous  play  as  a  daily  routine 
will  avoid  or  solve  most  such  difficulties  of  young 
people. 

In  all  dealing  with  this  problem  of  young  people, 
we  must  beware  of  overemphasis  or  exaggeration. 
Not  hope-  Parents  and  teachers  should  do  all  pos- 
less.  sible  to  prevent  and  cure  the  habit ;  but 

there  is  still  hope  for  most  young  people  who,  in 
spite  of  warning,  occasionally  lapse  into  their  old 
habits.  Both  men  and  women  of  this  type  have 
led  their  classes  through  college  and  won  success 
afterwards.  Probably  they  would  have  done  still 


PRE-ADOLESCENT  YEARS  145 

better  if  entirely  free  from  the  habit.  On  the  other 
hand,  men  and  women  of  neurotic  inheritance  com- 
bined with  the  habit  have  suffered  nervous  collapse 
during  college  years;  and  it  is  scientific  to  assume 
that  the  additional  nervous  strain  produced  by 
masturbation  was  a  contributing  factor.  Evidently, 
we  dare  make  no  definite  prophecy  as  to  what  will 
happen  to  one  who  in  early  life  forms  the  habit  of 
masturbation.  There  is  no  excuse  for  excessive 
alarm  in  any  ordinary  case;  but,  as  we  have  seen, 
there  are  good  reasons  why  parents  and  teachers 
should  calmly  and  yet  firmly  help  young  people 
avoid  unnatural  sexual  activity. 

To  those  who  must  consider  the  problem  of 
masturbation  in  boarding  schools,  I  recommend 
Hime's  "Schoolboys'  Special  Immorality." 


VII 

SEX-INSTRUCTION  FOR  EARLY  ADOLESCENT  YEARS 

§  27.   The  Biological  Foundations 

In  discussing  instruction  for  the  pre-adolescent 
years  I  have  stressed  biological  nature-study  as 
important  for  the  purpose  of  giving  general  knowl- 
edge of  how  new  living  things  come  into  the 
world.  This  will  develop  a  good  attitude  concerning 
the  origin  of  the  individual  human  life.  In  this 
lecture  I  wish  to  direct  attention  to  the  scientific 
facts  which  are  foundations  for  the  sexual  knowledge 
that  is  important  for  other  phases  of  sex-instruction 
during  early  or  late  adolescence. 

I  believe  that  the  best  introduction  to  advanced 
sex-instruction  is  through  biological  ideas  which 
Biological  may  be  presented  in  popular  lectures 
foundations.  ancj  books;  but,  of  course,  will  be  best 
taught  in  courses  of  biological  science.  My  own 
view  as  to  the  selection  of  materials  for  such  bio- 
logical studies  is  expressed  in  the  sections  on  repro- 
duction connected  with  the  account  of  each  animal 
or  plant  type  in  the  "Applied  Biology"  and  in  the 
last  chapter  of  the  "Introduction  to  Biology."1  In 
these  books  the  study  of  life-histories  of  plants  and 
animals  leads  up  through  vertebrates  to  mammals, 

i  Both  books  by  M.  A.  and  Anna  N.  Bigelow. 
146 


EARLY  ADOLESCENT  YEARS         147 

and  there  are  a  few  remarks  suggesting  that  human 
development  is  like  the  mammals.1  At  this  point 
these  books  should  be  supplemented  by  a  brief 
survey  of  the  essential  structure,  physiology,  and 
embryology  of  human  reproduction. 

Biological  studies  of  human  reproduction  should 
not  be  coeducational  in  high  schools  or  Mixed 
the  early  years  of  college.  Mature  col-  classes. 
lege  students  who  have  passed  through  extensive 
biological  studies,  may,  without  apparent  embarrass- 
ment, study  human  embryology  in  mixed  classes; 
but  after  experience  with  many  such  groups  I  have 
begun  to  think  that  separate  classes  are  desirable 
if  the  course  is  made  to  include  all  the  important 
facts  that  college  graduates  should  know  concern- 
ing human  reproduction.  At  any  rate,  there  should 
be  special  lessons  or  reading  dealing  with  detailed 
information  that  directly  concerns  one  sex  only. 

I  certainly  do  not  believe  in  completely  revamping 
biological  science  for  the  purposes  of  sex-education. 
It  is  better  not  to   "spoil"  a  course  by  impersonal 
overemphasis  on  sex,  for  much  of  the  value  approach  of 
of  biology  as  a  basis  for  sex-education  is 
the  fact  that  sex  appears  gradually  and  naturally 
and  far  away  from  human  relations.     This  imper- 
sonal approach  will  be  lost  if  the  course  in  biology 
seems  to  revolve  around  sex-education,  for  that  will 
make  sex  too  prominent. 

1  Sets  of  drawings  and  lantern  slides  for  the  biological  introduction 
to  sex  may  be  obtained  from  the  American  Social  Hygiene  Associa- 
tion, 105  W.  4oth  St.,  New  York  City. 


148  SEX-EDUCATION 

It  is  still  debatable  as  to  how  much  should  be 
taught  in  high  schools  or  in  public  lectures  concern- 
ing the  biological  facts  of  human  reproduction.  I 
think  that  I  can  make  my  own  views  clearer  if  I 
discuss  this  first  for  boys,  then  for  girls. 

§  28.   Scientific  Facts  for  Boys 

First,  it  is  generally  agreed  that  boys  of  high- 
school  age  may  profit  by  learning  their  own  sexual 
structure  by  means  of  diagrams  such  as  the  one  in 
Hall's  "Sexual  Hygiene."  There  is  no  harm, 
and  also  no  gain,  in  minute  description,  especially 
histological. 

The  chief  technical  names  of  the  parts  of  the  male 
organs  —  testicle  (spermary  or  testes),  sperm  duct 
Scientific  (vas  def  erens) ,  scrotum,  prostate,  seminal 
names-  vesicles,  penis,  glans,  prepuce  (foreskin), 
urethra  —  should  be  taught;  and  the  scientific 
dignity  of  these  words  as  substitutes  for  vulgar 
words  should  be  emphasized.  In  dealing  with 
boys  and  young  men  I  have  noticed  that  these 
and  other  scientific  words  have  a  great  influence 
on  their  attitude.  The  scientific  names  of  the  sex 
organs  should  be  made  part  of  popular  vocabulary 
for  the  reason  that  there  are  no  established  common 
names  corresponding  to  lungs,  liver,  stomach,  arm, 
leg,  brain,  and  so  on  for  all  prominent  organs  except 
the  sexual.  These  have  been  left  without  authorita- 
tive names  except  in  scientific  language,  and  as  a 
result  dozens  of  ordinary  words  have  been  vulgarly 
applied  and  unprintable  ones  invented  by  unedu- 


EARLY  ADOLESCENT  YEARS         149 

cated  people.  Such  usage  of  vulgar  terminology 
is  widespread,  especially  among  men  and  boys. 
An  editor  of  schoolbooks  recently  called  my  atten- 
tion to  the  necessity  of  changing  some  ordinary 
words  in  certain  books  because  in  some  localities 
the  boys  applied  the  words  to  sexual  organs.  Even 
the  little  words  "nuts,"  "  stones,"  "balls"  accom- 
panied by  the  adjective  "two"  mean  testicles  in 
the  widespread  vulgar  language;  and  a  physician 
told  me  that  a  college  graduate  used  one  of  these 
words  the  other  day  when  seeking  medical  advice 
concerning  her  baby.  Here  is  an  intolerable  situa- 
tion that  must  be  improved  by  establishing  in  popu- 
lar usage  the  dignified  scientific  words  for  the  chief 
sexual  organs.  We  must  begin  to  do  so  by  teaching 
the  words  frankly  to  boys  of  adolescent  years,  and  by 
persuading  parents  to  teach  their  children  correctly. 
Having  learned  the  structure  and  names  of  their 
sexual  organs,  boys  may  easily  understand  the 
function  of  each  part  if  explained  in  ser-physi- 
simple  language.  Ten  or  twenty  min-  °losy- 
utes  ought  to  be  enough  time  for  stating  the  impor- 
tant facts.  One  printed  page  could  state  them  clearly. 
Here  is  the  time  for  personal  hygienic  advice,  es- 
pecially such  topics  as :  rules  for  self-control ;  harm- 
ful habits  (see  discussion  of  masturbation  in  §  26) ; 
sexual  activity  not  necessary  for  health ;  occasional 
nocturnal  emissions  not  pathological.1 

1  The  instructor  of  young  men  should  not  allow  confusion  to  arise 
from  the  recent  contention  of  some  medical  men  that  emissions  are 
abnormal  or  unnatural  because  they  are  not  known  to  occur  in 
animals,  Certain  it  is  that  they  are  adaptations  to  changes  caused 


150  SEX-EDUCATION 

I  believe  it  is  well  for  boys  of  adolescent  years 
to  know  a  few  leading  facts  regarding  female  struc- 
Female  ture  and  function,  but  such  knowledge  is 
organs.  best  learned  from  oral  description  by  a 
well-balanced  teacher.  Diagrams  and  (in  some 
schools)  a  demonstrated  dissection  of  a  cat  or  other 
animal  will  be  helpful.  The  meaning  of  the  ovaries 
as  sources  of  the  egg-cells  and  of  the  uterus  as  the 
place  for  development  of  the  fertilized  egg-cell 
should  be  explained  in  a  serious  way  that  will  help 
boys  get  some  fundamental  ideas  as  to  what  mother- 
hood means.  Boys,  moreover,  should  be  informed 
concerning  the  existence  of  the  periodic  disturbance 
in  the  other  sex,  for  unless  they  know  they  are  sure 
at  times  to  misunderstand  their  sisters  and  other 
girls.  Professor  W.  S.  Hall  has  stated  the  essential 
information  hi  "Chums"  (for  boys  twelve  to  six- 
teen), but  his  comparison  of  periodicity  hi  the  two 
sexes  is  not  strictly  accurate,  for  there  are  not  in 
men  any  sexual  cycles  that  are  strictly  comparable 
with  the  menstrual  cycles  of  women. 

by  enforced  sexual  restraint  after  the  seminal  secretions  begin  with 
puberty.  Such  restraint  is,  of  course,  abnormal  or  unnatural  if 
we  compare  with  animals ;  but  many  of  our  acts  are  unnatural  and 
not  necessarily  unhealthful.  For  instance,  the  sedentary  life  of  the 
student  or  professional  worker  is  abnormal  or  unnatural,  but  it  need 
not  be  unhealthful,  if  hygienic  adaptations  are  made.  Likewise, 
seminal  emissions  are  unnatural  for  primitive  men  or  animals 
without  sexual  restraint,  but  this  does  not  mean  that  they  are  un- 
healthful for  self-controlled  men.  Here,  as  in  many  other  cases, 
comparison  with  animals  is  misleading  and  does  not  teach  us  useful 
facts  concerning  human  sexual  functioning.  The  truth  is  that 
physicians  have  no  evidence  of  harm  from  emissions  that  are  not 
caused  by  voluntary  activity. 


EARLY  ADOLESCENT  YEARS        151 

It  is  probably  best,  as  urged  by  several  writers, 
that  the  life-like  illustrations,  some  of  them  photo- 
graphic, in  books  of  human  anatomy  be  „ 

,  ,        J          No  pictures, 

kept  away  from  boys  of  early  adolescent 

age.  Diagrams  can  be  made  to  explain  all  that  is 
necessary,  and  without  the  danger  of  stimulation 
that  might  come  from  the  illustrated  medical  books. 

The  embryological  facts  of  human  biology  are 
very  impressive  to  boys  and  young  men  who  know 
little  of  science.  I  believe  that  no  other  Embry- 
line  of  scientific  facts  is  so  likely  to  claim  a  ol°sy- 
serious  and  respectful  attitude.  The  ideal  way  for  giv- 
ing a  popular  glimpse  at  human  development  is  with  a 
small  series  of  lantern  slides  or  photographs  from  em- 
bryological works.  Unfortunately,  there  is  no  avail- 
able popular  treatment  of  the  main  facts  of  human  de- 
velopment, but  teachers  trained  in  biology  can  easily 
glean  the  facts  for  the  preparation  of  a  short  lecture. 

Since  the  venereal  diseases  are  due  to  micro- 
organisms, I  believe. that  they  should  be  introduced 
in  connection  with  the  study  of  bacteria  social 
and  other  germs,  either  in  school  courses  diseases. 
or  hi  popular  lectures.    Such  instruction  should  be 
very  brief. 

§  29.   Scientific  Facts  for  Girls 

I  discussed  first  the  problem  of  selecting  scientific 
facts  for  boys  because  there  is  little  dispute  as  to 
the  advisability  of  giving  them  as  much  Girls  more 
scientific  information  as  may  possibly  i^1100611*- 
replace    the   vulgar   knowledge    that   the   average 
boy  is  likely  to  possess.    I  know  that  there  are  a 


152  SEX-EDUCATION 

few  men  and  many  women  who  will  disagree  with 
this  because  they  believe  in  the  absolute  ignorance 
of  their  boys;  but  I  doubt  whether  one  healthy 
adolescent  boy  in  a  hundred  belongs  in  the  "inno- 
cent" class.  So  we  need  not  worry  much  con- 
cerning any  supposed  danger  of  treating  facts  too 
frankly,  provided  that  they  are  given  a  dignified, 
scientific  setting.  In  the  case  of  numerous  adoles- 
cent girls  there  is  certainly  dense  ignorance,  and 
so  there  must  be  more  difficulty  in  getting  approval 
of  parents  and  teachers  concerning  facts  proposed 
for  girls.  Often  when  talking  with  groups  of  par- 
ents I  have  heard  them  say  that  they  would  like 
to  have  their  boys  learn  the  scientific  truth  regard- 
ing certain  facts,  but  they  feel  that  it  would  be 
too  startling  and  unnecessary  for  their  daughters. 
Such  is  the  widespread  feeling  which  must  be  seri- 
ously considered  in  all  planning  of  advanced  sex- 
instruction  for  girls.  No  doubt  there  will  be  much 
honest  disagreement  with  the  suggestions  here 
offered. 

The  biological  introduction  based  on  plants  and 
animals  should  be  the  same  as  for  boys  (§  27). 

An  adolescent  girl  of  fourteen  to  sixteen  should 
know  the  general  plan  of  her  own  sexual  structure. 
Structure  She  should  know  the  scientific  names  of 
and  names.  ^eT  organs,  not  because  there  are  many 
vulgar  names  as  in  the  case  of  boys,  but  because 
dignified  names  help  attitude.  Ovaries,  uterus 
(womb),  vagina,  Fallopian  tubes,  and  vulva  will 
be  sufficient.  Detailed  description  of  the  external 


EARLY  ADOLESCENT  YEARS        153 

organs  (vulva)  might  arouse  curiosity  that  leads 
to  exploration  and  irritation,  and  hence  many 
women  physicians  think  that  a  girl  under  sixteen 
or  possibly  eighteen  needs  only  the  name  vulva  for 
the  external  parts  surrounding  the  entrance  to  the 
vagina. 

Some  books  for  girls  perpetuate  the  ancient  but 
absurd  emphasis  on  the  virginal  significance  of 
the  hymen;  and  a  recent  book  from  a  An  ancient 
prominent  publisher  goes  so  far  as  to  try  belief- 
to  frighten  girls  into  remaining  chaste  by  stating  that 
a  physician  could  discover  if  they  have  been  un- 
chaste. This  is  far  from  being  always  true,  for  the 
structure  may  be  congenitally  absent,  may  some- 
times remain  after  sexual  union,  or  may  be  acci- 
dentally destroyed  in  childhood ;  and  reliable  physi- 
cians have  stated  that  proving  unchastity  by  the 
hymen  is  by  no  means  easy.  Hence,  the  less  said 
about  the  ancient  belief,  the  better  for  young  women. 
The  truth  is  that  the  hymen  is  a  worse-than-useless 
relic  of  embryological  development,  and  it  is  neither 
an  indicator  nor  a  dictator  of  morality. 

With  regard  to  the  physiology  of   the  female 
organs,  the  following  topics  should  be  considered: 
The  meaning  of  puberty  as  the  beginning  Physiology 
of  a  long  fertile  period  of  about  thirty  of  women, 
years;   the  nature  of  menstruation  as  a  periodical 
process  preparing  the  lining  of  the  uterus  for  re- 
ception and  attachment  of  an  embryo  if  a  sperm- 
cell  meets  a  liberated  egg-cell  near  an  ovary,  and 
not  as  a  season  of  illness  invented  by  the  powers  of 


154  SEX-EDUCATION 

darkness;  the  possibility  of  fertilization  following 
sexual  relations  at  any  time  during  the  fertile  life 
of  a  woman;  the  essential  facts  of  sexual  relation 
as  a  method  of  depositing  sperm-cells  so  that  they 
can  swim  on  the  way  to  meet  an  egg-cell ;  and  the 
nature  of  the  close  blood  relationship  of  mother  and 
embryo.  These  are  physiological  topics  which  many 
parents  would  like  to  have  taught  to  their  daugh- 
ters of  fourteen  to  eighteen  by  some  careful  woman 
or  by  some  good  book. 

With  regard  to  the  social  diseases  and  the  social 
evil,  I  have  long  sympathized  with  the  conservatives 

who  hold  that  extremely  limited  knowl- 
Social  ills.  .  „  .  .  ,  *  .  . 

edge  is  sufficient  for  the  average  girl  un- 
der eighteen  or  twenty.  No  doubt  that  many  work- 
ing girls  in  cities  need  more  protective  knowledge 
than  do  school  girls  of  the  same  age.  Hall's  "Life 
Problems"  seems  to  me  to  give  the  important  facts. 
As  in  the  case  of  boys  of  adolescent  years,  there 
should  be  enough  teaching  to  warn  against  harmful 

habits.     Such  knowledge  may  possibly 

be  of  personal  application  to  a  few  girls 
and  it  will  be  of  use  to  many  girls  who  will  later  as 
mothers  or  teachers  have  the  care  of  small  children. 
I  find  that  many  thoughtful  mothers  and  women 
physicians  think  that  girls  in  late  adolescent  years 
Knowledge  snould  learn  from  some  reliable  source 
concerning  the  most  general  facts  regarding  male 

structure  and  function.  Here  again  the 
strong  argument  is  that  the  majority  will  have  the 
care  of  small  children.  Such  instruction  has  often 


EARLY  ADOLESCENT  YEARS        155 

been  given  as  part  of  courses  in  biology  and  physiol- 
ogy and  also  in  special  lectures.  It  is  certain  that 
some  parents  will  favor  such  instruction,  and  others 
will  regard  it  as  indecent  to  suggest  that  girls  should 
have  any  such  knowledge.  There  will  always  be 
some  parents  who  will  let  their  daughters  face  life- 
problems  blindly. 

Sometime  in  adolescent  years  girls  should  learn 
the  scientific  facts  regarding  mothercraft  or  the 
care  of  small  children.  This  phase  of  the  Mother- 
larger  sex-education  is  rapidly  attracting  craft- 
attention  from  those  who  are  interested  in  practical 
arts  education,  and  before  many  years  pass  it  will 
probably  be  treated  adequately  in  connection  with 
household  arts  in  schools  and  colleges.  I  have 
already  referred  to  household  arts  in  general  as 
making  a  decided  contribution  to  the  larger  sex-edu- 
cation which  works  for  harmonious  adjustment  of 
the  sexes  in  the  home. 


VIII 

SPECIAL  SEX-INSTRUCTION  FOR  ADOLESCENT  BOYS 
AND  YOUNG  MEN 

In  this  lecture  I  shall  discuss  a  number  of  prob- 
lems in  the  relations  of  men  to  women  which 
Methods  ought  somehow  to  be  made  clear  to 
and  boys  who  are  in  transition  to  manhood, 

teachers.        j  can  ^Q  ^fa  more  than  point  out  the 

lines  along  which  it  is  desirable  that  young  men 
should  be  informed  and  influenced ;  for  I  confess  that 
I  do  not  know  any  guaranteed  pedagogical  method 
for  teaching  along  these  lines.  So  far  as  I  can  now 
see,  it  seems  to  me  that  a  good  beginning  would  con- 
sist in  getting  the  best  ideas  before  young  men  by 
lectures,  books,  and  personal  conversations.  Here 
more  than  in  any  other  phase  of  sex-education  the 
influence  of  personality  is  of  great  importance. 
Many  an  ordinary  teacher  or  lecturer  may  well 
present  the  cold  facts  of  biological  science  that  help 
interpret  sex,  but  one  who  does  not  by  his  personal 
qualities  command  the  entire  confidence  of  his 
hearers  is  worse  than  useless  in  presenting  to  young 
men  such  problems  as  those  outlined  in  this  lecture 
under  the  following  subheadings:  Developing 
young  men's  attitude  towards  womanhood;  de- 
156 


SEX-INSTRUCTION   FOR  BOYS  AND   MEN        157 

veloping  ideals  of  love  and  marriage;  reasons  for 
pre-marital  continence;  essential  knowledge  con- 
cerning prostitution;  need  of  more  refinement  in 
men;  dancing  as  a  sex  problem  for  men;  dress 
as  a  sexual  appeal;  the  problem  of  self-control; 
the  mental  side  of  a  young  man's  sex  life. 

§  30.   Developing  Attitude  towards  Womanhood 

Many  there  are  among  the  believers  in  the  larger 
sex-education  who  feel  sure  that  a  young  man's 
greatest  safety  lies  in  having  high  ideals  influence  of 
of  womanhood.  I  have  known  a  num-  ideals- 
her  of  men  who  passed  unscathed  through  the 
storm  and  stress  of  early  manhood  because  each 
of  them  could  say,  as  Tennyson  makes  the  lover  con- 
fess to  Princess  Ida,  "from  earlier  than  I  know,  im- 
mersed in  rich  foreshadowings  of  the  world,  I  loved 
the  woman."  Some  of  these  men  learned  to  love 
"the  woman"  in  the  abstract,  in  the  dream  world, 
perhaps  as  the  "  brushwood  girl "  of  Kipling.  Others 
first  loved  "the  woman"  through  boyhood  sweet- 
hearts. Still  others  came  to  love  her  through 
mothers  who  inspired  them  with  reverence  for 
womanhood  and  motherhood. 

.  .  .  .  "  Happy  he 

With  such  a  mother  !  faith  in  womankind 

Beats  with  his  blood,  and  trust  in  all  things  high  comes  easy 
to  him."  (Tennyson) 

But  it  matters  little  for  the  future  purity  of  the 
boy  on  the  threshold  of  manhood  whether  he  has 


158  SEX-EDUCATION 

learned  to  love  "the  woman"  in  the  dreamland  of 
youth  or  in  the  very  real  world  of  life.  It  is  simply 
a  question  of  the  intensity  of  the  devotion  and  of  the 
loftiness  of  the  ideals  which  She  has  aroused  within 
him. 

Now,  we  of  the  older  generation,  who  as  parents 
and  teachers  are  largely  the  makers  of  the  boy's 

Who  may  v^ew  °^  ^e'  ma^  P^y  a  very  important 
influence  part  in  developing  in  him  a  love  for 
boys.  "the  woman,"  a  reverence  for  woman- 

hood. The  greatest  opportunity  falls  to  the  lot 
of  that  mother  whose  natural  gifts  and  education 
adapt  her  for  impressing  her  son  profoundly  with 
appreciation  of  womanhood.  The  next  greatest 
opportunity  comes  to  the  woman  who  as  an  instructor 
in  school,  church,  or  other  institution  comes  into 
intimate  relations  that  sometimes  give  the  teacher 
greater  influence  than  the  mother  is  able  or  willing 
to  exert.  Finally,  we  must  not  discount  the  value 
of  men's  cooperation  in  this  problem,  for  many  a 
boy's  attitude  towards  women  is  largely  the  reflection 
of  what  he  has  seen  in  his  father  and  in  other  men, 
particularly  in  his  teachers  both  secular  and  religious. 
Now,  while  the  direct  influence  of  personality 
is  most  important  in  this  problem  of  developing  a 
young  man's  attitude  towards  women,  organized 
educational  effort  should  not  be  neglected.  It  is 
important  that  both  men  and  women  help  by  en- 
couraging young  men  to  read  good  literature  that 
unobtrusively  tends  to  introduce  them  to  the  best 
in  womanhood  (see  §  23) ;  and  by  discussing  with 


SEX-INSTRUCTION   FOR  BOYS   AND   MEN        159 

them,  as  opportunity  offers,  the  higher  ideals  of  the 
relationships  between  men  and  women. 

§  31.   Developing  Ideals  of  Love  and  Marriage 

Closely  associated  with  high  ideals  of  womanhood 
is  necessarily  a  pure  understanding  of  love,  even  in 
its  physical  basis.  While  preparing  this  lecture  I 
discovered  that  James  Oliphant  (in  the  International 
Journal  of  Ethics,  Vol.  9,  pp.  288-289,  1898)  has 
well  expressed  some  of  the  views  that  hi  a  more  or 
less  unformulated  shape  have  been  hi  my  mind 
for  years. 

"  If  the  true  preparation  for  love  and  marriage  is,  as 
I  hold  it  to  be,  to  learn  to  associate  physical  passion 
with  the  higher  emotions  developed  by  ideals  of 
social  sympathy  —  with  a  single-hearted  tove  in  art. 
devotion  that  demands  courage,  and  self-sacrifice 
and  considerate  forethought  and  tenderness;  if  we 
wish  to  bind  all  these  qualities  together  in  the  im- 
agination of  the  young  and  clothe  the  conception 
with  every  attribute,  of  beauty  that  fancy  can  de- 
vise, how  can  we  forego  the  precious  opportunities 
that  lie  to  our  hand  in  the  persuasive  witchery  of 
art?  The  power  that  may  be  exercised  in  the  for- 
mation of  character  by  the  presentment  of  ideal 
types  is  as  yet  very  imperfectly  utilized.  Love  is 
par  excellence  the  theme  of  the  artist,  and  young 
people  will  soon  find  this  out  for  themselves;  but 
there  is  a  wide  difference  in  the  degrees  of  idealiza- 
tion, and,  while  we  concern  ourselves  to  exclude  the 
grosser  forms,  we  neglect  the  only  effective  means  of 
accomplishing  this,  namely,  the  persistent  pres- 
entation of  the  sentiment  in  its  noblest  examples. 
It  is  the  prevalent  idea  that  the  longer  we  can  keep 


l6o  SEX-EDUCATION 

all  notions  of  love,  even  in  its  romantic  guise,  out 
of  children's  heads,  the  better  it  will  be  for  them. 
Surely  it  would  be  a  wiser  policy  to  fill  their  minds 
as  soon  as  they  are  able  to  receive  them,  with  the 
creations  of  art  in  which  love  is  represented  in  its 
sublimest  aspects.  The  youth  who  is  familiar  with 
the  love-stories  of  Shakespeare,  and  George  Eliot,  and 
Meredith,  will  suffer  little  harm  from  the  gilded 
sensualism  of  the  Restoration  drama.  Let  us  hasten 
to  implant  the  images  of  beauty  that  will  keep  the 
soul  sweet  and  wholesome,  and  free  from  the  taint 
of  any  later  influences,  however  sordid  these  may  be." 

In  the  lecture  on  marriage  as  offering  one  of  the 
problems  for  the  larger  sex-education  (§12)  and  in 
the  reference  to  general  literature  in  §  23,  I  have 
called  attention  to  literature  which  will  be  suggestive 
and  useful  to  those  who  are  considering  the  young 
man's  attitude  towards  love  and  marriage. 

§  32.  Reasons  for  Pre-marital  Continence  of  Men 

Recognizing  the  fact  that  moral  considerations 
fail  to  reach  many  people,  the  following  points 
should  be  emphasized  in  trying  to  show  young  men 
practical  reasons  why  they  should  avoid  pre-marital 
sexual  relations. 

(i)  Young  men  ought  to  know  that  many  eminent 
physicians  and  physiologists  agree  that  it  has  not  been 
Continence  proved  that  continence  injures  the  health 
and  health.  of  men  who  make  an  effort  to  avoid 

sexual  temptations.  Physicians  of  the  highest  stand- 
ing never  advise  extra-marital  or  immoral  relations, 
for  they  are  far  more  likely  to  injure  health  than  to 


SEX-INSTRUCTION  FOR  BOYS  AND  MEN       l6l 

improve  it,  and  they  surely  injure  character  and 
reputation.  On  this  question  of  continence  young 
men  should  read  such  pamphlets  as  "Sexual 
Necessity"  by  Howell  and  Keyes;  "The  Young 
Man's  Problem"  and  "Health  and  Hygiene  of 
Sex"  by  Morrow;  "The  Physician's  Answer" 
and  "The  Rational  Sex  Life  for  Men"  by  Exner.1 
Also,  see  pp.  183-190  in  Geddes  and  Thomson's 
"Sex." 

Dr.  Exner's  "Physician's  Answer"  is  based  on 
the  following  declaration  which  was  signed  by 
about  three  hundred  of  the  foremost  physicians  of 
America : 

"In  view  of  the  individual  and  social  dangers 
which  spring  from  the  widespread  belief  that  con- 
tinence may  be  detrimental  to  health,  and  of  the  fact 
that  municipal  toleration  of  prostitution  is  sometimes 
defended  on  the  ground  that  sexual  indulgence  is 
necessary,  we,  the  undersigned,  members  of  the 
medical  profession,  testify  to  our  belief  that  conti- 
nence has  not  been  shown  to  be  detrimental  to  health 
or  virility ;  that  there  is  no  evidence  of  its  being  in- 
consistent with  the  highest  physical,  mental,  and 
moral  efficiency;  and  that  it  offers  the  only  sure 
reliance  for  sexual  health  outside  of  marriage." 

(2)  It  ought  to  be  significant  to  young  men  that 
many  men  who  are  now  in  the  thirties  or  forties 
look  back  upon  their  youthful  errors  with  pro- 
found regret.  Many  such  men  testify  that  unfor- 

1  The  first  three  pamphlets  are  published  by  the  Society  of  Sanitary 
and  Moral  Prophylaxis  (New  York) ;   the  Exner  pamphlets  by  the 
Association  Press  (New  York). 
If 


l62  SEX-EDUCATION 

getable  immoral  experiences  keep  them  from  reach- 
ing the  heights  of  love  with  their  wives.  One  of 
my  friends,  a  well-known  physician,  recently  met 

in  his  office  within  two  or  three  months 
Psychical  .  ,  .  ,  ,. 

results  of       seven  men  of  high  standing  who  are  now 

mconti-          happily  married,  but  who  feel  that  con- 

nence.  ... 

jugal  life  is  short  of  its  full  aesthetic 
possibilities  because  of  the  ever-present  remem- 
brance of  early  sexual  mistakes. 

(3)  While  the  above  refers  to  the  psychical  effect  of 
youthful  errors,  young  men  should  learn  that  there 
Physical        is  also  a  physical  side  to  the  same  prob- 
results.          iem     Eminent   physicians    assert    that 
many  men  have  completely  and  permanently  de- 
stroyed their  sexual  functions  by  extensive  dissipa- 
tions, either  by  masturbation  or  by  natural  relations ; 
and  that  very  many  more  have  injured  themselves  so 
that  perfection  of  the  physical  basis  of  love  and 
marriage  is  impossible. 

(4)  The  probability  of  venereal  infection  by  pre- 
marital relations  and   the  danger  of  transmission 
Possible        to  innocent  wives  and  children  should 
diseases.        be  presented   to  all  young  men  as  a 
strong  ethical  appeal  for  continence  (see  §  7). 

(5)  The  "fair  play"  or  "square  deal"  appeal 
to  young  men  should  be  based  on  the  fact  that  most 
Purity  for       young  men  who  are  unchaste  demand 
punty-  purity  of  the  girls  they  claim  as  sisters, 
friends,  or  sweethearts ;  and  yet  they  help  drag  down 
other  women.    An  honorable  man  should  be  willing 
to  play  fairly  and  give  purity  for  purity. 


SEX-INSTRUCTION  FOR  BOYS  AND  MEN       163 

(6)  The    grave    responsibility    of    young    men 
whose  unchastity  is  connected  with  illegitimacy  or 
with   the   organized   social   evil   should  Responsi- 
be  made  a  strong  point  in  appeals  for  bility- 
pre-marital  abstinence. 

(7)  Young  men  should  be  impressed  with  the  idea 
that  their  sexual  functions  should  be  held  sacred 
to  affection ;  in  other  words,  that  sexual  Sexuality 
union  is  moral  only  as  love  interchange,  andaffec- 
In  so  far  as  young  men  may  be  led  to  tion' 

this  interpretation  of  the  relation  of  sexuality  to  the 
best  conceptions  of  life,  there  will  be  no  danger  of 
prostitution  and  there  will  be  a  guarantee  of  mar- 
riages that  give  completeness  to  affection.  The 
men  who  are  safeguarded  against  unchastity  are 
those  who  have  learned  to  think  of  love  and  mar- 
riage and  sexual  functioning  as  interdependent  and 
coincident  elements  in  the  great  drama  of  life  and 
who  feel  the  impossibility  of  their  personal  interest 
in  marriage  without  love  or  in  sexual  union  except 
as  expression  of  deep  affection.  Such  men  are  by 
no  means  as  rare  as  the  sensational  reports  of  the 
social  evil  lead  many  people  to  believe. 

I  realize  that  all  these  seven  reasons  for  continence 
will  fail  with  that  large  group  of  young  men  who 
have  persuaded  themselves  that  they  will  Some  men 
never  marry  and  thus  they  shake  off  all  beyond 
responsibility   such   as  appeals   to   the  appeal- 
man  who  looks  forward  to  love  that  culminates 
in  marriage.    No  one  has  yet  suggested  any  line 
of  appeal  to  the  men  who  are  physically  or  psychi- 


164  SEX-EDUCATION 

cally  or  morally  so  abnormal  that  they  have  no 
interest  in  the  possibility  of  marriage;  but  for- 
tunately such  individuals  constitute  an  insignificant 
minority. 

§  33.   Essential  Knowledge  Concerning  Prostitution 

(1)  The  adolescent  boy  should  be  safeguarded  by 
the  knowledge  that  in  every  city  and  in  most  towns 
Safeguard-     there  are  women  who  for  financial  gain 
ing  boys.       are  constantly  seeking  to  entice  young 
men  into  immoral  sexual  relations ;  and  that  many 
unwary  men  are  involuntarily  entrapped,  especially 
when  influenced  by  alcohol. 

(2)  The  young  man  should  know  that  the  selling 
of  woman's  virtue  is  an  organized  business  known 
Prostitution    as  "prostitution"  or   "the  social  evil," 
a  business.     Words   which    stand    for    indescribable 
degradation  and  degeneracy  that  no    beast    could 
possibly  imitate.     Moreover,  the  young  man  should 
be  informed  that  all  immorality  is  not  prostitution, 
but  that  most  of  the  immoral  relations  of  men  are 
purchased  directly  or  indirectly  by  money  or  its 
equivalent. 

(3)  The  young  man  should  know  that  the  great 
majority  of  prostitutes  do  not  willingly  undertake  the 
Some  shameful  business  of  selling  their  virtue, 
causes  of        He  should  know  that  the  majority  have 
prostitution.    gQne    downward    for    sucn   reasons    as 

follows:  Many  a  woman  has  been  betrayed  by 
some  detestable  man  who  pretended  to  love  her. 
Poverty  has  forced  many  other  women  to  the  first 


SEX-INSTRUCTION  FOR  BOYS  AND  MEN       165 

downward  step.  Many  are  easy  victims  because 
they  belong  to  the  feeble-minded  class.  Others 
have  been  driven  into  immoral  life  by  parents  and 
even  husbands.  Still  others  have  been  drugged, 
and  raped  while  insensible.  A  limited  number 
have  begun  prostitution  as  "white  slaves"  kept 
as  prisoners  until  all  hope  of  a  better  life  has 
vanished.  A  few  have  deliberately  begun  to  accept 
the  attentions  of  lewd  men  in  order  to  get  money 
for  luxurious  dress  and  finery.  And  relatively  very 
few  have  started  downward  because  of  sexual  passion 
such  as  commonly  influences  men.  In  short,  every 
young  man  should  be  informed  that  most  women 
living  by  prostitution  have  begun  innocently  or 
unwillingly;  but  having  made  one  false  step, 
society  has  shunned  them,  even  near  relatives  have 
cast  them  off,  and  a  career  of  prostitution  has  ap- 
peared the  only  way  of  making  a  living,  vulgar  and 
unspeakably  sordid  though  it  be.  It  is  evident  that 
the  responsibility  for  prostitution  rests  almost  entirely 
upon  men.  Unfortunately,  society  does  not  recog- 
nize this  fact  and  has  no  way  of  deah'ng  legally  with 
both  men  and  women  found  associated  in  houses 
of  prostitution.  At  present  the  women  arrested 
for  prostitution  are  treated  as  criminals,  while 
their  male  associates  in  vice  are  allowed  to  depart  as 
if  they  were  respectable  citizens. 

Tell  young  men  these  facts  as  to  why  women 
become  prostitutes.  Help  them  to  realize  that 
most  of  these  women  are  pitiful  victims  of  man's 
worse  than  brutal  sexual  passions.  Then  add  the 


1 66  SEX-EDUCATION 

astounding  fact  that  very  many  of  the  women  of 
the  underworld  have  short  lives,  their  health  being 
Appeal  undermined  rapidly  by  dissipation,  by 

to  men.  alcohol  used  to  bury  their  shame  or  to 
stimulate  their  flagging  energies,  and  by  the  two 
loathsome  diseases,  gonorrhea  and  syphilis,  which 
relatively  few  prostitutes  escape  —  tell  young  men 
such  facts  which  eminent  physicians  and  soci- 
ologists have  often  verified,  and  there  are  good 
chances  of  striking  sympathetic  notes  in  their  young 
manhood. 

(4)  And  there  is  one  other  line  of  facts  concerning 
prostitution  that  the  developing  young  man  should 
Dan  er  of  know  well,  namely,  that  every  prostitute 
social  is  likely  at  any  time  to  be  infected  with 

the  social  diseases,  and  that  no  ordinary 
medical  examination  can  prove  that  she  will  not 
transmit  these  awful  diseases  to  men  who  consort 
with  her.  In  fact,  within  an  hour  after  most  careful 
medical  examination  she  may  become  infected  by 
some  diseased  man,  and  then  she  is  capable  of 
inoculating  other  men.  Such  facts,  for  which  the 
greatest  of  special  physicians  vouch,  will  eradicate 
from  the  young  man's  mind  the  widespread  notions 
that  prostitutes  are  safe  if  they  carry  a  physician's 
certificate,  or  one  of  the  official  cards  given  in  some 
European  cities.  Many  a  young  man  of  sixteen  to 
twenty  has  not  heard  that  prostitutes  as  a  class  are 
universally  dangerous  as  distributors  of  the  most 
terrible  diseases,  and  his  education  is  incomplete 
until  he  knows  the  exact  truth  from  reliable  sources. 


SEX-INSTRUCTION  FOR  BOYS  AND  MEN       167 

(5)  It  is  not  desirable  that  the  young  man  should 
be  set  to  read  the  numerous  books  packed  with 
more  or  less  sensational  reports  on  the  Limited 
social   evil,   for   these   may   sometimes  reading, 
tend  toward  morbidity.     Any  young  man  who  is  not 
effectively  appealed  to  by  the  above  facts  will  not  be 
influenced  by  the  most  voluminous  reports  on  prosti- 
tution ever  published.     Such  reports  are  not  useful 
for  young  men.    They  serve  a  good  purpose  by  in- 
forming mature  men  and  women  and  awakening 
them  to  the  necessity  of  legislation,  education,  and 
other  weapons  with  which  we  may  fight  the  great 
black  plague  of  social  vice.    For  the  average  young 
man  the  books  recommended  in  §  8  will  give  suffi- 
cient information  and  viewpoint. 

(6)  Finally,  the  young  man  of  adolescent  years 
should  be  made  to  understand  his  responsibility 

for  immorality  that  is  not  prostitution, 

.  .11.      Liaisons, 

that  is,  extra-marital  relations  with  his 

girl  friends  and  without  pecuniary  considerations. 
He  should  know  the  probability  that  he  will  ruin 
a  girl's  life,  either  because  illegitimacy  occurs 
or  because  her  reputation  suffers.  Even  if  such 
immoral  liaisons  are  kept  private,  both  persons 
concerned  are  likely  in  after  years  to  regret  their 
illicit  intimacy,  especially  if  either  marries  another 
person. 

§  34.   Need  of  More  Refinement  in  Men 

While  refinement  is  a  part  of  general  culture,  it  is 
beyond  doubt  an  important  phase  of  the  problems 


1 68  SEX-EDUCATION 

for  the  larger  sex-education.  Elsewhere  I  have 
referred  to  the  need  of  better  understanding  and 
better  adjustment  between  men  and  women,  es- 
pecially in  marriage.  Towards  such  a  desideratum 
refinement  of  men  will  contribute  immensely. 
Many  cultured  women  avoid  marriage  and  many 
are  unhappy  in  marriage  because  men,  sometimes 
even  educated  men,  lack  refinement  in  manners, 
language,  and  personal  habits.  In  fact,  "lack  of 
refinement"  is  altogether  too  mild  an  expression, 
for  many  men  are  positively  crude  in  manners, 
coarse  and  vulgar  in  language,  and  disgusting  in 
personal  habits. 

In  referring  to  manners,  I  am  including  not  only 
the  thousand  and  one  little  customs  of  everyday 
Manners  ^e  among  refined  people,  but  also 
and  chivalric  attitude  towards  all  women. 

The  world  has  changed  vastly  since 
knighthood  was  in  flower,  but  many  men  of  to-day 
might  well  take  lessons  in  the  art  of  courtesy  to  women 
as  practiced  by  the  famous  knights  of  the  age  of 
chivalry.  This  problem  of  manners  will  be  an  in- 
creasingly important  one,  for  here  in  America  there 
is  growing  up  a  generation  of  boys  who  are  far 
from  chivalrous  even  to  their  mothers  and  sisters; 
and  at  the  same  time,  the  industrial  competition 
and  daily  association  of  the  two  sexes  is  making 
young  men  realize  that  women  are  simply  human 
beings  and  not  super  beings. 

With  regard  to  language,  I  am  thinking  not  so 
much  of  the  general  need  of  speech  that  is  grammati- 


SEX-INSTRUCTION  FOR  BOYS  AND  MEN       169 

cally,  rhetorically,  and  vocally  polished,  which  no 
doubt  determines  many  a  woman's  estimate  of  a 

man,  as  I  have  in  mind  the  repelling 

,.  .  Language, 

effect  upon  sensitive  women  of  language 

that  is  coarse,  vulgar,  and  profane.  Hence,  quite 
apart  from  the  effect  of  low  language  on  character, 
I  believe  it  worth  while  to  work  for  refinement  of 
language  of  young  men. 

And  now  with  reference  to  personal  habits,  in- 
cluding cleanliness  and  refinement  of  actions,  the 
average  women  of  all  classes  set  splendid  personal 
examples  for  men  of  the  same  groups,  habits. 
It  seems  scarcely  necessary  to  explain  in  detail  con- 
cerning unclean  personal  habits  and  vulgar  actions. 
It  requires  no  keen  observer  to  find  plenty  of 
examples.  Those  who  have  the  training  of  boys 
should  lose  no  opportunity  to  impress  them  with 
the  importance  of  refinement,  and  especially  in  all 
phases  of  their  home  life.  It  is  in  the  most  intimate 
life  of  the  home  that  refinement  of  personal  habits 
of  husbands  may  mean  much  to  sensitive  wives. 

§  35.  Dancing  as  a  Sex  Problem  for  Young  Men 

It  is  more  than  useless  to  discuss  the  question 
whether    dancing    ought    to    be    eliminated   from 
the  social  life  of  young  people,  for  it  Dftncingnot 
has   physical,    social,   and   aesthetic   or  to  be 
dramatic  values  which  will  make  dancing  e 
in  some  form  or  other  coextensive  with  human  life. 

Those  who  deal  with  adolescent  boys  and  girls 
ought  to  have  some  understanding  of  the  facts  for 


I7O  SEX-EDUCATION 

and  against  dancing  as  it  may  influence  the  sexual 
control  of  young  people,  men  especially.  It  is  no 
Young  longer  sufficient  to  say,  even  to  the  young 

people  and  members  of  certain  religious  denomina- 
dancing.  tions,  that  "good  people  must  not  dance 
because  it  is  wicked,"  for  in  this  doubting  age  young 
people  will  ask  first  what  we  mean  by  the  word 
"wicked"  and  then  for  proof  that  dancing  is  wicked. 
The  time  has  come  when  young  people  must  be 
shown  the  scientific  reasons  if  we  want  them  to 
avoid  dancing  or  to  dance  with  certain  approved 
movements. 

It  seems  to  be  an  accepted  opinion  among  physiol- 
ogists that  dancing  of  any  of  the  types  that  involve 
Dancing  a  more  or  less  closeness  of  contact  between 
sexual  men  and  women  in  pairs  is  likely  to  lead 

stun  an  .  ^Q  sexual  stimulation  that  at  times  may 
be  consciously  recognized  by  normal  men,  but  prob- 
ably is  not  identified  other  than  as  general  excite- 
ment by  most  women. 

The  frank  admission  that  dancing  may  sometimes 
stimulate  sexual  emotions  is  no  condemnation 

of  dancing,  as  many  writers  seem  to 
Danger  no  . 

reason  for      think.     We   must   know   first    whether 

condemning    &ucfo  emotions  lead  to  good  or  harm. 

dancing.  .  . 

Sexual  emotions  are  not  in  themselves 
wrong  from  any  except  a  strictly  ascetic  point  of 
view.  The  fact  that  most  intelligent  men  who  in 
general  are  frankly  truthful  confess  that  dancing 
may  sometimes  arouse  sexual  emotion  simply 
raises  the  question  whether  such  emotions  lead 


SEX-INSTRUCTION   FOR   BOYS   AND  MEN        17 1 

directly  to  immoral  relations  with  women  or  whether 
they  lead,  as  does  the  best  social  life  of  men  and 
women  together,  to  a  higher  aesthetic  appreciation 
of  life  as  it  involves  the  relations  of  the  two  sexes. 
After  discussing  this  with  many  —  yes,  with  more 
than  a  hundred  —  men  and  women,  I  am  now  con- 
vinced that  dancing  may  have  both  results,  depend- 
ing upon  the  individuals.  Dancing,  then,  has  its 
dangers,  but  so  have  many  other  things  that  go  to 
make  up  the  most  complete  life.  Eating  may  lead 
to  gluttony,  mountain-climbing  may  lead  to  a  broken 
neck,  swimming  to  drowning,  music  and  art  to 
sensuality,  and  even  love  is  not  without  danger  of 
bestial  degradation.  Life  is  full  of  dangers  and 
we  are  constantly  striving  to  reduce  them  to  a 
minimum.  So  we  must  refuse  to  condemn  dancing 
because  of  its  admitted  sexual  dangers  for  young 
people,  unless  it  can  be  shown  that  the  danger  is  so 
great  and  so  unconquerable  as  to  outweigh  all  the 
physical,  social,  and.  aesthetic  considerations  hi  favor 
of  the  pastime. 

That  dancing  is  a  strong  incentive  to  immorality 
is    contended    by    many    writers.      A    prominent 
physiologist  has  said  that  "the  dance  is  Dancin_ 
the    devil's   procession    so   far   as    the  and  im- 
young  man  is  concerned."    Others  have  E 
pointed  to  the  immorality  that  is  connected  with  the 
dance  halls,  and  to  the  fact  that  waves  of  immorality 
of  young  men  have  often  followed  the  annual  balls 
given  in  some  high  schools  and  colleges.     Contrary 
to  the  view  which  I  formerly  held,  I  am  now  in- 


172  SEX-EDUCATION 

clined  to  think  that  it  is  not  fair  to  charge  such  im- 
moral tendencies  entirely  to  dancing,  and  therefore 
condemn  all  dancing  as  immoral.  It  is  no  secret 
of  sociology  that  similar  epidemics  of  immorality 
have  been  known  to  occur  in  connection  with 
Sunday-school  picnics,  camp  meetings,  expositions, 
political  and  other  conventions,  and  religious  re- 
vivals. Shall  we  condemn  all  these  along  with  danc- 
ing on  the  ground  that  they  lead  to  immorality? 
We  say  "no "  because  immorality  is  only  an  incident, 
not  a  result  in  these  cases.  Likewise,  I  believe  that 
dancing  is  but  one  of  several  factors  that  have  led  to 
immorality  at  the  time  of  annual  balls  in  high  school 
and  college.  These  are  times  of  general  tendency 
towards  dissipation.  Regular  duties  are  cast  aside, 
all  the  hygienic  rules  for  eating  and  sleeping  are 
broken,  there  is  unusual  freedom  of  speech  and 
manners,  available  alcohol  is  freely  used,  emotions 
and  not  reason  rules  —  these  are  characteristic  of 
the  college  festivals  that  center  around  grand 
balls.  In  short,  at  such  times  there  is  a  general 
let-down  of  usual  standards  and  a  swing  back 
towards  the  barbaric  festival  of  the  ancients.  It 
is  not  surprising,  then,  that  pent-up  sexual  instincts 
assert  their  force  at  such  times,  and  dancing,  if 
it  occurs  under  such  conditions  is,  of  course,  likely 
to  increase  the  danger  of  moral  collapse  because  it 
incites  sexual  emotions. 

Our  conclusion,  then,  is  that  it  is  unscientific  to 
charge  dancing  with  being  the  direct  cause  of  im- 
morality, when  it  has  been  only  one  in  a  series  of 


SEX-INSTRUCTION  FOR  BOYS  AND  MEN       173 

events.     The  facts  warrant  not   condemnation  of 
dancing  as  something  utterly  bad,  but  rather  of 
allowing  dancing  to  be  associated  with  Regulation 
conditions  that  are  likely  to  lead  to  dis-  of  dancing 
sipation  and  immorality.     Unless  some  n 
argument  other  than  that  arising  from  the  coinci- 
dence of  dancing  with  dissipation  and  immorality  is 
brought  forward,  we  must  conclude  that  dancing 
should  be  regulated  and  associated  so  that  the  ad- 
mitted dangers  will  be  reduced  to  a  minimum.     Rec- 
ognition of  the  dangers  will  lead  mature  people  to 
see  the  importance  of  supervising  and   regulating 
dancing   as   a   phase   of   the  social  life  of  young 
people.    It  will  lead  to  dancing  that  is  improved 
along  social  and  aesthetic  lines. 

While  improvement  of  dancing  will  reduce  its 
dangers,  it  will  not  eliminate  the  problem  of  self- 
control  for  normal  young  men.  They  Self-control 
must  learn  to  understand  their  own  necessary, 
emotions.  They  should  be  forewarned  that  others 
have  found  danger  in  dancing.  They  should  know 
that  some  strong-willed  men  have  given  up  dancing 
when  they  found  that  it  made  more  intense  the  prob- 
lem of  sexual  self-control,  both  mentally  and  physi- 
cally. They  should  know  the  increased  danger  if 
dancing  is  associated  with  alcohol,  vicious  women, 
immodest  dress,  extreme  freedom  of  conduct,  and 
other  morally  depressing  influences.  Such  knowledge 
along  with  general  sex-education  will  do  much  to 
make  dancing  not  only  safe  for  average  young  men, 
but  also  helpful  along  social  and  aesthetic  lines. 


174  SEX-EDUCATION 

With  regard  to  the  extreme  dances  of  the  past 
five  years,  those  who  are  well  informed  concerning 
Extreme  sexual  problems  know  that  many  of 
dances.  these  dances  which  polite  society  has 
copied  from  the  dens  of  the  underworld  are  vastly 
more  dangerous  than  the  standard  dances. 

§  36.   Dress  of  Women  as  a  Sex  Problem  for  Men 

Some  of  the  students  of  sex  problems  assert  with 
great  emphasis  that  dress  is  the  responsible  factor 
Dress  and  ^  ^ne  sexual  immorality  of  many  men. 
immo-  Accepting  the  probability  that  there  is 

rallty'.  some  truth  hi  the  assertion,  what  is  the 

solution  of  the  problem?  Should  women  in  gen- 
eral adopt  a  style  of  dress  which  in  lines  and 
color  is  as  repellently  ugly  as  the  official  garb  of 
women  devotees  of  certain  religious  organizations? 
In  short,  should  women  make  their  dress  decidedly 
unobtrusive  and  unattractive  in  order  that  the  sexual 
temptations  of  some  men  may  be  reduced?  The 
answer  must  be  an  emphatic  negative.  We  need 
more  beauty  in  this  life  of  ours,  and  we  cannot  afford 
to  omit  any  beauty  which  women  express  in  dress. 
The  pity  is  that  economic  conditions  so  often  set  a 
limit  to  such  expression.  We  must  believe  in  making 
every  possible  application  of  the  beauty  of  nature 
and  art  to  human  life ;  and  beautiful  dress  on  all 
women,  and  especially  beautiful  dress  on  attractive 
women,  is  the  most  important  of  such  relations  of 
beauty  and  life. 

Accepting,  then,  beauty  of  dress  as  worthy  of 


SEX-INSTRUCTION  FOR  BOYS  AND  MEN       175 

encouragement,  what  shall  be  done  about  its  sexual 
attractiveness  ?  This  is  a  difficult  question  in  these 
days  with  ever-changing  fashions  whose  DreS8  ^ 
novelty  makes  extreme  modes  more  sexual 
dangerously  attractive  than  they  would  appeal> 
be  if  universally  adopted  for  a  long  term  of  years. 
But  permanency  of  extreme  styles  or  general  adap- 
tation of  modest  ones  are  absolutely  impossible  for 
the  average  woman  of  to-day.  Hence,  we  must 
look  forward  to  one  extreme  style  following  another. 
Young  men  must  face  the  problem  and  fight  their 
own  battles.  Like  certain  widespread  diseases, 
there  is  constant  danger  of  infection,  and  the  only 
hope  for  young  men  is  in  special  education  as  a  kind 
of  protective  inoculation  against  temptation.  This 
means  that  young  men  should  be  taught  to  see 
beauty  in  woman's  form,  face,  and  dress  without 
allowing  themselves  to  get  into  habits  of  sensual  or 
physical  emotions.  Of  course,  for  the  normal  young 
man  there  is  sure  to  be  more  or  less  consciousness  of 
emotions  stimulated  by  the  beautiful  associated 
with  women,  but  the  individual  man  may  train 
himself  to  turn  such  emotions  into  aesthetic  or  psy- 
chical lines  instead  of  into  those  which  are  sensual, 
animalistic,  or  physical.  In  this  connection,  I  have 
long  been  of  the  opinion  that  training  in  art  appre- 
ciation, especially  of  sculpture,  may  help  many  men 
to  an  aesthetic  attitude  towards  the  human  form. 

It  is  well  known  that  beauty  of  woman's  face  or 
form  or  dress  has  sometimes  led  men  into  im- 
morality ;  but  I  often  wonder  whether  such  men  of 


176  SEX-EDUCATION 

weak  control  would  not  have  fallen  sooner  or  later 
at  the  command  of  some  other  form  of  stimulation. 
At  any  rate,  such  men  do  not  lead  us  to  general 
conclusions,  for  there  are  many  more  men  who  have 
been  led  upward  and  not  downward  by  the  com- 
bined beauty  of  form,  face,  and  dress  of  women. 

While  we  refuse  to  excuse  men  who  allow  the  sexual 
suggestiveness  of  women's  dress  to  overcome  their 
Duty  of  self-control,  we  should  at  the  same  time 
women.  recognize  that  women  have  themselves 
to  blame  for  much  of  the  existing  situation.  I 
believe  it  is  true  that  the  average  woman  does  not 
understand  how  dress  that  makes  unusual  exposure 
of  the  body  may  make  a  sexual  appeal  to  men; 
but  there  is  no  such  innocence  on  the  part  of  the 
demi-mondes  by  whom  many  of  the  most  dangerous 
styles  are  introduced.  Perhaps  women  of  intelli- 
gence and  good  standing  may  some  day  come  to 
realize  their  responsibility  for  wearing  clothing 
that  means  unusual  temptation  for  men.  However, 
this  seems  Utopian  in  these  years  when  even  women 
of  the  best  groups  are  wearing  equivocal  dress; 
and  so  men  must  learn  to  fight  their  own  battles 
against  natural  instincts  stirred  to  greater  intensity 
by  dress  invented  to  increase  the  trade  of  the  women 
of  the  underworld. 

§  37.    The  Problem  of  Self-control  for  Young   Men 

The  problem  of  control  of  the  insistent  passions 
of  normal  young  men  has  been  unscientifically 
minimized  by  numerous  writers  and  lecturers.  It 


SEX-INSTRUCTION  FOR  BOYS  AND  MEN       177 

should  be  noted  that  many  of  these  are  men  who 
have  long  since  forgotten  the  storms  and  stresses  of 
their  early  manhood,  and  others  are  Difference 
women  who  do  not  know  the  facts  in-  between 
dicating  that  the  sexual  instincts  of  £ 
young  men  are  characteristically  active,  aggressive, 
spontaneous,  and  automatic,  while  those  of  women 
as  a  rule  are  passive  and  subject  to  awakening 
by  external  stimuli,  especially  in  connection  with 
affection.  Such  forgetful  men  and  uninformed 
women  are  prone  to  regard  the  lack  of  control  of 
many  young  men  as  simply  due  to  "original  sin," 
"innate  viciousness,"  "bad  companions,"  or  "ir- 
resistible temptations";  and  they  overlook  the 
great  fact  that  maintaining  perfect  sexual  control 
in  his  pre-marital  years  is  for  the  average  healthy 
young  man  a  problem  compared  with  which  all 
others,  including  the  alcoholic  temptation,  are  of 
little  significance.  Such  being  the  truth  about 
young  men,  nothing  is  to  be  gained  and  much  is  to 
be  lost  if  older  people  fail  to  take  an  understand- 
ing and  sympathetic  attitude.  I  question  whether 
any  young  man  has  ever  been  helped  through  his 
adolescent  crises  by  such  oft-repeated  assertions  as 
that  "there  is  no  more  reason  that  a  young  man 
should  go  astray  than  that  his  sister  should,"  or, 
in  other  words,  that  "continence  is  as  easy  for  a 
young  man  as  for  a  girl  of  similar  age."  An  observ- 
ing young  man  will  doubt  such  statements,  and  if 
he  has  had  access  to  scientific  information,  he  will 
feel  sure  that  there  has  been  an  attempt  to  influence 


178  SEX-EDUCATION 

him  by  the  kind  of  exaggeration  commonly  adopted 
by  specialists  in  moral  preachments.  The  plain 
truth  is  that  there  is  a  physiological  "reason"  or 
explanation,  although  not  a  justification  for  failure 
of  self-control.  Even  if  we  accept  the  improbable 
statement  of  some  writers  that  boys  and  girls  are  in 

early   adolescence   potentially  equal  in 
Automatic  J  .  .  , 

arousing        sexual  instincts  and  assuming  that  they 

of  boys'  may  be  protected  equally  against  vicious 
instincts.  .  f  J 

habits,  we  must  not  forget  that  every 

normal  boy  passes  in  early  puberty  through  peculiar 
physiological  changes  that  arouse  his  deepest  in- 
stincts. I  refer  especially  to  the  frequent  occurrence 
of  involuntary  sexual  tumescence  and  to  the  occa- 
sional nocturnal  emissions,  which  processes  leave  the 
boy  in  no  doubt  whatever  as  to  the  nature,  source, 
and  desirability  of  sexual  pleasure.  Especially  is  this 
true  of  the  automatic  emissions  that  usually  follow 
continence  of  healthy  young  men,  for  in  connection 
with  such  relief  of  seminal  pressure  every  nerve 
center  of  the  sexual  mechanism  seems  to  be  involved 
in  the  culminating  nerve  storm  of  which  the  awaken- 
ing individual  is  often  quite  pleasurably  conscious. 
In  short,  as  men  looking  backward  to  their  early 
manhood  well  understand,  the  physical  sensations 
that  come  into  the  normal  sexual  experience  of  the 
adolescent  boy  are  different  only  in  degree  of  in- 
tensity from  those  which  later  are  concomitants  of 
sexual  union.  Such,  in  brief,  is  the  physiological 
history  of  the  normal  adolescent  boy,  and  one  who 
has  fallen  into  even  most  limited  masturbation  will 


SEX-INSTRUCTION  FOR  BOYS  AND  MEN       179 

probably  be  still  more  conscious  of  the  fact  that  the 
ordinary  sequence  of  events  in  the  activity  of  the 
sexual  organs  leads  to  intense  excitement  that  has 
almost  irresistible  attractiveness. 

Now,  most  scientifically-trained  women  seem  to 
agree  that  there  are  no  corresponding  phenomena  in 

the  early  pubertal  life  of   the   normal 

.     Average 
young  woman  who  has  good  health.     A  young 

limited  number  of  mature  women,  some  women 

.    .,  ,       .  .  ,    ,       .  different, 

of  them  physicians,  report  having  ex- 
perienced in  the  pubertal  years  localized  tumes- 
scence  and  other  disturbances  which  made  them 
definitely  conscious  of  sexual  instincts.  However, 
it  should  be  noted  that  most  of  these  are  known  to 
have  had  a  personal  history  including  one  or  more 
such  abnormalities  as  dysmenorrhea,  uterine  dis- 
placement, pathological  ovaries,  leucorrhea,  tubercu- 
losis, masturbation,  neurasthenia,  nymphomania, 
or  other  disturbances  which  are  sufficient  to  account 
for  local  sexual  stimulation.  In  short,  such  women 
are  not  normal.  Such  facts  have  led  many  physi- 
cians to  the  generalization  that  the  average  healthy 
adolescent  girl  does  not  undergo  normal  spontaneous 
changes  which  make  her  definitely  conscious  of  the 
nature,  source,  and  desirability  of  localized  sexual 
pleasure.  On  the  contrary,  such  consciousness 
commonly  comes  to  many  only  as  the  result  of 
stimuli  arising  in  connection  with  affection.1  Clearly 
it  is  nonsense  to  claim  that  the  sexual  temptations 

1  This  is  really  not  surprising  if  we  remember  the  peculiarities  of 
human  instincts  mentioned  in  an  earlier  lecture  (§3). 


l8o  SEX-EDUCATION 

arising  within  the  individual  are  equal  for  the  two 
sexes.  Potentially,  girls  may  have  passions  as  strong 
as  boys,  but  they  do  not  become  so  definitely  and 
spontaneously  conscious  of  their  latent  instincts. 

Thus  considering  the  available  facts  regarding 
the  physiological  reasons  for  the  sexual  tendencies 
Helping  the  of  men,  it  seems  to  me  that  we  gain 
young  man.  nothing  in  trying  to  minimize  the  young 
man's  sexual  problems,  for  he  is  quite  conscious  that 
they  are  insistent.  Far  better  it  is  that  mature  men 
who  know  life  hi  its  completeness  should  make  the 
young  man  feel  that  his  problems  are  not  new,  not 
insignificant,  and  that  many  another  man  has  met 
and  solved  them  in  such  a  way  as  to  make  lif  e  more 
full  of  real  happiness.  Such  sympathetic  helpfulness 
will  mean  something  to  a  young  man,  but  he  cannot 
be  led  far  by  one  who  in  his  own  early  experience 
has  not  learned  both  the  strength  and  the  mastery 
of  the  sexual  instincts. 

In  another  lecture  I  have  discussed  the  proposition 
that  it  would  be  better  for  all  concerned  if  women 
Women  could  have  scientific  understanding  of  the 
should  physiological  facts  concerning  the  sexual 

tendencies  of  men,  not  to  make  women 
more  lenient  or  forgiving  towards  the  mistakes  of  men, 
but  rather  to  enable  women  to  play  an  important  part 
in  the  necessary  adjustments  through  helpful  com- 
radeship. This  last  phrase  will  mean  nothing  to  many 
people,  but  in  many  a  modern  home  a  well-informed 
wife  has  been  able  to  lead  the  way  to  the  satisfactory 
solution  of  the  fundamental  problems  of  life. 


SEX-INSTRUCTION   FOR  BOYS   AND   MEN        l8l 

There  is  another  and  an  all-important  phase 
of  the  problem  of  teaching  self-control  which  is 
commonly  overlooked  by  those  who  are  self-control 
trying  to  help  young  men  solve  their  in  marriage- 
greatest  problems.  I  have  in  mind  the  need  of  self- 
control  in  marriage.  Most  writers  and  lecturers 
who  emphasize  the  arguments  for  absolute  self- 
control  or  continence  before  marriage,  omit  all  refer- 
ence to  marital  life.  The  natural  inference,  and  one 
widely  followed,  is  that  the  only  moral  duty  of  a 
young  man  is  to  control  his  intense  desires  and  avoid 
illicit  relations  until  sexual  abandon  is  permitted 
under  the  license  of  the  law  and  the  benediction  of 
the  church.  Such,  I  submit,  is  a  fair  conclusion 
for  young  men  to  draw  from  at  least  ninety  per  cent 
of  the  sex-education  literature  that  is  current  to- 
day. 

Now,  I  believe  this  is  all  wrong.  In  fact,  I  am  so 
radical  as  to  believe  that  the  intelligent  women  of 
the  world  would  gain  more  from  temperance  and 
unselfishness  and  delicacy  of  men  in  sexual  func- 
tioning in  marriage  than  from  sexual  continence 
before  marriage.  Of  course,  I  do  not  propose  that 
ideal  sexual  conditions  in  marriage  may  justify  pre- 
marital incontinence,  but  I  make  this  sharp  contrast 
simply  to  emphasize  the  belief  that  sexual  intemper- 
ance and  selfishness  of  men  in  marriage  causes  more 
mental  and  physical  suffering  of  women  than  does 
sexual  incontinence  of  men  before  marriage,  and  I 
am  not  forgetting  the  vast  problem  of  social  diseases 
and  prostitution. 


1 82  SEX-EDUCATION 

I  urge,  then,  that  those  who  attempt  to  direct 
young  men  through  the  mazes  of  sexual  life  should 
hold  up  ideals  not  only  of  pre-marital  continence, 
but  also  of  post-nuptial  temperance  and  harmonious 
adjustment  between  husband  and  wife.  This  post- 
nuptial problem  is  far  more  difficult  to  solve,  for 
the  intimacy  of  married  life,  especially  in  the 
earlier  years,  is  sure  to  offer  stimuli  that  are  likely 
to  make  sexual  instincts  more  insistent  than  those 
that  come  from  celibate  repression.  However, 
self-control  and  temperance  in  marriage  is  no  new 
and  unattainable  ideal,  and  harmonious  adjustment 
of  men  and  women  in  marriage  is  far  more  common 
than  the  pessimists  would  have  us  believe. 

§  38.    The  Mental  Side  of  the  Young  Man's  Sexual 
Life 

Most  of  the  discussions  of  the  education  of  young 
men  for  moral  living  have  centered  around  the 
Effect  of  problem  of  keeping  him  from  physical 
mental  sexual  activity.  So  far  as  society  is  con- 

cerned, this  is  the  great  desideratum. 
So  far  as  the  individual  life  is  concerned,  it  is  im- 
portant that  self-control  should  extend  to  mental 
imagery.  Professors  Geddes  and  Thomson  have 
well  said,  in  "Sex,"  that  "while  anatomical  chastity 
is  a  moral  achievement,  it  is  not  the  deepest  virtue. 
The  incisive  declaration:  'Whosoever  looketh  on 
a  woman  to  lust  after  her  hath  committed  adultery 
with  her  already  in  his  heart'  expresses  an  even  more 
searching  standard,  and  modern  science  brings  home 


SEX-INSTRUCTION   FOR  BOYS  AND  MEN        183 

to  us  the  radical  importance  of  our  reflex  thought 
and  deep-down  impulses,  which  appear  to  bulk 
largely  in  molding  our  lives  and  the  lives  of  those 
who  may  spring  from  us."  In  language  adapted 
to  the  understanding  of  average  young  men,  this  idea 
should  be  emphasized. 

In  the  opinion  of  some  physiologists  the  greatest 
harm  done  to  the  individual  who  has  long  been  a 
victim  of  masturbation  is  in  the  centering  of  the 
attention  on  imaginary  sexual  situations.  This  is 
especially  true  of  mental  masturbation.  Hence,  the 
relation  of  masturbation  to  the  possible  establish- 
ment of  a  disordered  mental  state  should  be  known 
by  adolescent  boys  and  young  men. 

It  appears  from  the  experience  of  many  men  that 
strenuous   work   and   play   are   the  only   efficient 
weapons  for  driving  sexual  images  into  control  of 
the  background  of  the  mind.     This  ap-  thoughts, 
plies  not  only  to  sordid  and  lewd  thoughts  of  un- 
chaste sexual   situations,  but   also   to  the   mental 
images  that  are  inevitably  associated  with  the  purest 
affection  and  which  should  be  trained  to  obey  when 
calm  reason  so  orders. 

The  following  literature  will  be  especially  helpful 
to  young  men:  W.  S.  Hall's  "Sexual  Hygiene  for 
Men,"  or  his  "Sexual  Knowledge";  Exner's  "The 
Rational  Sex  Life  for  Men " ;  Morrow's  "The  Young 
Man's  Problem,"  and  "Health  and  Hygiene  of  Sex 
for  College  Students";  King's  "Fight  for  Charac- 
ter" (Y.M.C.A.);  and  the  chapter  on  Ethics  of 
Sex  in  "Sex"  by  Geddes  and  Thomson. 


IX 


SPECIAL  SEX-INSTRUCTION  FOR  MATURING  YOUNG 
WOMEN 

It  was  my  original  plan  to  make  this  lecture 
parallel  with  the  preceding  one  for  young  men, 
Parents  but  much  discussion  with  parents  and 

would  limit    with  scientifically  trained  women  whose 
knowledge  .  ,        .  .  .  T        ,        . 

of  suggestions  and  criticisms  I  value  has 

daughters,  shown  me  that  there  is  no  consensus  of 
opinion  as  to  what  should  be  taught  to  young 
women  between  eighteen  and  twenty-two  years  of 
age.  I  have  found  many  fathers  and  mothers  who 
think  that  their  boys  of  fourteen  or  fifteen  should 
be  informed  as  suggested  in  the  preceding  lecture; 
but  concerning  some  of  the  facts  for  boys  these 
same  parents  were  doubtful  whether  their  daughters 
ought  to  know  before  twenty,  and  some  of  them 
have  said  twenty- five  and  even  thirty.  Some  of  them 
have  said  that  they  see  no  reason  why  an  unmarried 
young  woman  of  the  protected  group  should  know 
much  more  than  a  very  limited  amount  of  personal 
hygiene;  but  most  of  these  people  were  decidedly 
hazy  as  to  how  the  young  woman  about  to  marry 
may  be  sure  of  getting  belated  knowledge.  In 
short,  all  along  the  line  I  have  found  intelligent 
184 


SEX-INSTRUCTION   FOR   YOUNG   WOMEN        185 

parents  and  others  who  believe  in  very  thorough 
sex-instruction  for  boys,  but  that  "nice"  girls 
should  be  kept  as  ignorant  and  innocent  as  possible. 
With  such  disagreement  existing,  it  is  evidently 
not  possible  to  make  such  specific  recommendations 
as  have  been  made  for  boys. 

§  39.   The  Young  Woman's  Attitude  towards  Man- 
hood 

Among  those  who  agree  heartily  with  the  proposi- 
tion that  by  education  the  young  man's  attitude 
towards  womanhood  (§  30)  should  be  Women 
cultivated  I  find,  to  my  surprise,  many  should  have 
who  object  to  any  parallel  attempt  to  1( 
influence  young  woman's  ideals  of  manhood.  I  say 
that  I  am  surprised  because  it  has  long  seemed  to 
me  that  many  of  the  faults  of  men  are  largely  trace- 
able to  the  fact  that  women  as  a  sex  have  not  been 
able  to  hold  a  high  standard  for  manhood;  and, 
therefore,  I  wonder  when  some  thinking  women 
question  the  desirability  of  trying  to  influence 
young  women  by  organized  instruction.  Of  course, 
we  must  not  forget  that  before  the  coming  of  the 
economic  and  social  freedom  of  women  there  were 
very  few  of  them  who  were  able  to  maintain  a  stand 
for  their  ideals  of  manhood ;  but  this  is  no  longer 
true  in  a  great  and  rapidly  increasing  group  of  the 
individualized  and  educated  classes.  Therefore,  it 
seems  clear  that  if  the  better  groups  of  women  want 
a  higher  type  of  manhood  capable  of  better  adjust- 
ment in  marriage,  it  is  important  that  they  consider 


1 86  SEX-EDUCATION 

ways  and  means  of  molding  the  minds  of  young 
women  with  reference  to  ideal  manhood. 

Occasionally  I  have  met  a  strange  view  of  life  in 
some  men  and  women  who  have  grown  pessimistic 
Ideals  and  from  revelations  concerning  the  sexual- 
disappoint-  social  problems  and  who  think  that  true 
manhood  is  so  rare  that  emphasizing  it 
with  young  women  will  lead  to  ideals  that  can 
rarely  be  realized  in  actual  lif e ;  and  therefore,  for 
women  so  influenced  there  will  be  increasing  dis- 
content and  disappointment  in  marriage  or  deliberate 
celibacy.  No  doubt  this  is  in  part  true,  as  witness 
the  many  highly  educated  women  who  have  written 
or  said  that  there  seem  to  be  few  attractive  marriage- 
able men  of  their  own  age.  However,  it  is  rare 
indeed  that  such  women  say  that  life  would  have 
meant  more  without  the  higher  education  and  its 
resulting  ideals  that  have  stood  in  the  way  of  mar- 
riage such  as  might  be  happy  for  uneducated  women. 
This  is  hi  line  with  the  fact  that  many  cultivated  men 
and  women  find  that  education  has  given  unattained 
ideals  and  unsatisfied  ambitions  and  strenuous  life 
and  disappointments,  but  it  is  rare  that  they  long 
for  the  care-free  and  animal-like  happiness  of  the 
tropical  savage.  We  must  remember  that  education 
gives  us  keener  feeling  for  life's  pains,  but  it  also 
compensates  by  giving  soul-satisfying  appreciation 
of  its  joys.  So  it  seems  reasonable  to  believe  that 
while  educating  young  women  to  believe  hi  and  de- 
mand a  higher  ideal  of  manhood  in  its  natural  rela- 
tions to  womanhood  will  certainly  make  disappoint- 


SEX-INSTRUCTION    FOR  YOUNG  WOMEN        187 

ments  more  heart-pressing  for  some,  it  will  just  as 
surely  make  realization  the  supreme  happiness  of 
others.  And  as  adjustment  of  manhood  and  wom- 
anhood through  the  larger  sex-education  becomes 
more  and  more  abundant  and  more  and  more  per- 
fected, the  sum  total  of  human  happiness  will  in- 
crease. 

Looking  thus  towards  the  ultimate  good,  I  must 
refuse  to  accept  the  hopeless  and  depressing  view  that 
all  young  women  should  be  kept  ignorant  of  their 
relation  to  men  and  life  in  order  that  the  absence  of 
ideals  of  manhood  may  protect  some  women  against 
possible  disappointment  by  men. 

§  40.   The  Young  Woman's  Attitude  towards  Love  and 
Marriage 

In  the  preceding  lecture  to  the  parents  and  teachers 
of  young  men  I  emphasized  the  importance  of  de- 
veloping the  young  man's  ideals  of  love  Reasons  not 
and   marriage   primarily    because    such  same  as  for 
ideals  have  so  often  helped  men  morally  r 
in  character-formation  and  character-protection, 
feel  sure  that  this  is  not  the  chief  reason  why  the 
ideals  of  young  women  should  be  developed  along 
parallel  lines.     On  the  contrary,  it  seems  to  me  that 
those  representative  women  are  right  who  think  that 
the  first  reason  why  ideals  of  young  women  should 
be  influenced  is  that  there  is  need  of  a  radical  change 
in  the  attitude  of  a  very  common  type  of  young 
women  who  are  flippant  and  disrespectful  concern- 
ing love  and  marriage,  and  whose  influence  on  the 


1 88  SEX-EDUCATION 

morals  of  men  is  decidedly  bad  because  they  often 
give  unguided  young  men  their  first  and  strongest 
impressions  concerning  women.  A  second  reason, 
which  is  equally  applicable  to  both  sexes,  is  that 
advance  understanding  of  the  relations  of  love  and 
marriage  is  likely  to  lead  to  happy  and  satisfactory 
adjustment  in  marriage. 

Perhaps  the  flippant  and  disrespectful  attitude  con- 
cerning affairs  of  the  heart  develops  in  many  young 
Mennatu-  women  because  they  do  not  consciously 
rally  lead  feel  in  advance  of  experience  the  demand 
for  affection  which  comes  so  naturally 
and  spontaneously  to  many,  possibly  to  all,  normal 
young  men  whose  views  of  life  have  not  been 
artificially  twisted.  I  fully  realize  the  treacherous 
nature  of  the  ground  on  which  walks  one  who  tries 
to  compare  the  two  sexes  concerning  their  relative 
attitudes  towards  love,  but  certain  it  is  that  the 
novelist's  descriptions  of  men  as  the  leaders  and  ag- 
gressors in  love  is  not  fiction  but  the  common  fact 
of  real  life.  Man's  tendency  towards  leadership  in 
love  is  not  scientifically  explained  by  any  superficial 
assumption  that  established  social  conventions  have 
repressed  an  original  spontaneity  of  women.  On 
the  contrary,  there  are  the  best  of  physiological  and 
psychological  reasons  for  believing  that  the  social 
conventions  have  arisen  as  an  expression  of  mascu- 
line aggressiveness  and  natural  tendency  towards 
leadership  in  affairs  of  the  heart.  The  accepted 
fact  is  that  many  young  women  have  no  under- 
standing of  or  demand  for  affection  until  experience 


SEX-INSTRUCTION  FOR  YOUNG  WOMEN        189 

has  taught  them  its  place  in  life.  In  the  records  of 
real  life,  as  well  as  in  fiction,  many  a  young  woman's 
possibilities  of  happiness  have  been  lost  because  she 
did  not  understand  herself  when  love  came  into  her 
experience. 

Another  side  to  the  problem  of  the  young  woman's 
relation  to  love  and  marriage  is  brought  to  our 
attention  by  the  lamentable  fact  that  Affection  in 
many  wives  lose  interest  in  devoted  maniage. 
husbands  when  the  children  come.  This  is  probably 
true  in  at  least  half  the  families;  and  many  mat- 
rimonial disharmonies  are  the  result.  This  is 
really  one  of  the  greatest  problems  of  marriage  which 
cultured  women  should  consider  seriously ;  for  even 
more  than  in  most  other  sex  problems,  it  is  one  for 
the  solution  of  which  women  are  in  a  position  to 
take  the  leading  part.  This  problem  is  especially 
important  hi  these  days  when  the  household  in- 
efficiency, personal  extravagance,  and  desire  for 
social  position  of  numerous  young  women  of  eighteen 
to  thirty  are  having  an  enormous  influence  in  ad- 
vancing the  age  of  marriage  because  many  of  the 
best  types  of  young  men  pause  and  consider  seriously 
the  impossibility  of  adjusting  a  small  salary  to  the 
ideas  of  their  women  friends  as  to  what  is  the  mini- 
mum of  a  family  budget.  Add  to  such  facts  a 
growing  pessimism  of  young  men  regarding  in- 
constant affections  of  wives  with  children,  and  the 
need  of  special  educational  attack  is  evident. 

From   whatever  side  we  look  at   the   question 
whether  the  larger  sex-education  should  somehow 


190  SEX-EDUCATION 

try  to  mold  the  ideals  of  young  women  with  regard  to 
love  and  marriage,  we  see  reasons  why  parents  should 
The  duty  of  encourage  their  maturing  daughters  to 
parents.  get  SOme  advance  understanding  of  such 
relation.  If  parents  are  themselves  unable  to  help 
their  daughters  to  this  understanding,  they  can  at 
least  exert  great  influence  by  their  own  attitude, 
and  they  can  approve  the  reading  of  books,  and 
perhaps  there  may  be  opportunity  for  hearing  lec- 
tures by  women  who  understand  life. 

With  regard  to  good  literature  that  will  help  in 

this  line,  there  are  chapters  in  many  of  the  books 

mentioned  at  the  end  of  this  lecture, 

and  in  more  or  less  indirect  form  in  the 

general  literature  suggested  in  the  preceding  lectures 

concerning  young  men,  and  in  §  1 2  which  deals  with 

the  general  educational  problem  of  marriage. 

§  41.  Reasons  for  P re-marital  Continence  of  Women 

Many  women  who  have  lived  protected  lives  have 

declared  themselves  unable  to  understand  why  a 

young  woman  should  need  reasons  for 

women  do      pre-marital  continence ;  and  these  women 

not  need        are  probably  right  so  far  as  the  great 

reasons.  .  J       °  .       . 

majority  of  the  daughters  of  families  in 
good  social  conditions  are  concerned.  As  pointed 
out  in  earlier  lectures,  there  is  abundant  evidence 
that  the  average  adolescent  girl  who  is  protected 
against  external  sexual  stimuli  and  influenced  con- 
stantly by  the  prevailing  ideals  which  demand 
chastity  of  women,  is  not  likely  to  need  any  argu- 


SEX-INSTRUCTION  FOR  YOUNG  WOMEN        1 9 1 

men ts  why  she  should  avoid  pre-marital  incontinence. 
Moreover,  there  seems  to  be  little  danger  that  the 
average  girl  with  good  social  environment  will  ever 
question  her  ideals  of  chastity  unless  under  the 
stress  of  overwhelming  affection;  in  other  words, 
there  is  little  possibility  that  such  women  will  be 
interested  in  the  strictly  mechanical,  non-affectionate, 
and  unsentimental  sexual  relations  which  must  inev- 
itably characterize  the  common  prostitution  of  men. 

Note  that  I  am  referring  to  the  average  young 
woman  in  good  social  environment,  and  for  the 
moment  omitting  the  vast  class  of  so-  unprotected 
called  "unprotected"  girls.  Moreover,  &*ls- 
I  am  speaking  of  the  "average,"  and  I  am  not  for- 
getting that  medical  journals  and  books  record 
many  exceptions.  Nevertheless,  we  must  not  be 
misled  by  medical  literature,  for  naturally  the 
physician  sees  the  women  whose  lack  of  health 
leads  them  to  seek  professional  advice,  and  it  is 
well  known  that  hi  sexual  lines  women  commonly 
become  decidedly  unhealthy  before  they  consult 
physicians.  As  testimony  concerning  the  average 
normal  women,  I  have  the  greatest  confidence  in 
the  statements  of  thoughtful  women  with  sound 
scientific  attitude;  and  such  are  my  authority  for 
the  view  that  maintaining  pre-marital  continence 
is  not  one  of  the  serious  problems  for  the  average 
young  woman  with  good  domestic  and  social  en- 
vironment. 

Now,  while  I  admit  in  advance  that  the  problem  of 
pre-marital  continence  is  not  of  great  significance 


192  SEX-EDUCATION 

in  the  personal  lives  of  the  great  majority  of  the 
type  of  women  who  are  likely  to  hear  or  read  this 
lecture,  I  do  believe  that  this  is  the  type  of  women 
who  ought  to  think  over  the  problem  as  it  concerns 
the  atypical  girl  of  good  social  groups  and  the  "un- 
protected" girl  of  more  unfortunate  groups.  I  can- 
not see,  therefore,  why  it  is  not  best  and  safest  that 
all  girls  should  learn  from  parents  or  reliable  books 
or  teachers  the  main  reasons  for  pre-marital  chastity. 
The  atypical  girls  of  good  social  groups  who  need 
guidance  regarding  pre-marital  continence  are  of  two 
The  girl  who  types :  either  one  with  intensive  sexuality 
needs  help,  which  is  often  modifiable  by  medical 
or  surgical  treatment;  or  one  of  probably  normal 
instincts  but  with  radical  sexual  philosophy.  The 
first  type  needs  not  only  emphatic  instruction  re- 
garding continence,  but  more  often  medical  help, 
either  for  general  health  or  for  correction  of  localized 
sexual  disturbance.  The  second  type  must  be 
treated  exactly  as  suggested  for  young  men,  because 
they  are  the  women  whose  anarchistic  repudiation 
of  laws  and  convention  in  general  has  led  to  their 
acceptance  of  a  single  standard  of  morality  for  men 
and  women,  but  one  of  freedom  from  monogamic 
ideals.  This  type  of  women,  long  well  known  in  the 
student  groups  of  Paris  and  in  Russian  universities, 
is  becoming  more  and  more  evident  in  America, 
especially  among  some  well-educated  young  women 
who  have  dropped  their  ideals  of  chastity  because 
they  have  found  attractiveness  in  more  or  less  super- 
ficial studies  of  radical  socialism.  Many  of  these 


SEX-INSTRUCTION  FOR  YOUNG  WOMEN        193 

radical  women  frankly  say  that  they  would  like 
to  marry  the  "right  man,"  but  failing  to  find  that 
rare  species,  they  claim  their  right  to  sexual  freedom 
in  more  or  less  capricious  liaisons.  Others  of  these 
women  are  so  highly  individualized  that  marriage 
is  beneath  their  contempt,  either  because  it  will 
"interfere  with  a  career"  or  because  the  legal  aspects 
and  ecclesiastical  ceremonies  still  suggest  the  old- 
time  subjection  of  the  wife  to  the  husband.  Women 
who  are  in  a  position  to  know  from  personal  knowl- 
edge of  radical  people  declare  that  there  are  still 
relatively  few  educated  women  who  deliberately 
cut  loose  from  monogamic  standards ;  and  that  they 
are  most  commonly  found  among  certain  intimate 
and  unconventional  groups  of  students  and  profes- 
sional workers,  especially  those  who  are  united 
in  "Bohemian  life"  by  artistic  or  literary  interests. 
But  while  such  sexually  anarchistic  women  are  not 
common  in  America,  there  is  reason  for  fearing  that, 
unless  some  unexpected  check  comes  to  this  under- . 
current  towards  sexual  freedom,  it  may  be  found 
ten  or  twenty  years  hence  that  a  surprisingly  large 
number,  but  never  a  majority,  of  unmarried  young 
women  have  fallen  into  the  sexual  promiscuity  that  is 
so  common  among  unmarried  men  of  the  same  ages. 
Chief  of  the  influences  that  lead  a  certain  number 
of  well-educated  young  women  towards  sexual 
freedom  is  radical  printed  matter.  We  Radical  sex 
are  now  getting  in  America  a  wide  distri-  literature, 
bution  of  bold  literature  of  the  "free  love"  type, 
some  of  it  with  a  scientific  superficiality  that  will 
o 


194  SEX-EDUCATION 

convince  many  beginners  in  the  study  of  sexual  prob- 
lems.  Much  of  this  literature  is  translation  or  adap- 
tation of  books  and  articles  by  European  authors ; 
and  I  have  previously  remarked  that  abroad  the 
ideals  of  sexual  morality  —  and  judging  from  the 
Great  War,  of  morality  in  other  lines  —  is  frankly 
quite  different  from  that  upheld  here.  But  some 
of  this  radical  literature  is  American  in  origin.  In 
addition  to  certain  books  and  pamphlets,  which 
might  be  advertised  by  giving  names,  I  think  of  two 
New  York  medical  journals,  with  a  popular  circu- 
lation, edited  by  a  successful  but  much  criticized 
physician,  which  rarely  publish  an  issue  without 
frank  approval  and  even  arguments  for  extra-marital 
relations  other  than  prostitution,  particularly  for 
those  who  for  one  reason  or  another,  unwelcome  or 
voluntary,  are  leading  celibate  lives.  The  influence 
of  such  writings  on  young  women  who  are  inclined 
towards  radicalism  in  all  things  is  probably  enor- 
mous, and  it  is  unfortunate  that  vigorous  opposition 
literature  is  not  published  and  widely  circulated. 

In  conclusion,  it  is  clear  that  the  problem  of  pre- 
marital continence  is  not  limited  to  young  men, 
Same  in-  ^or  tne  "unprotected"  girl  from  a  low- 
structionas  grade  home  and  environment,  and  the 
uninformed  girl  from  the  best  of  homes, 
and  the  radical  girl  from  the  most  educated  circles 
may,  innocently  or  deliberately,  select  the  pathway 
to  unchastity.  For  these  kinds  of  young  women 
the  educational  problem  is  the  same  as  for  young 
men.  They  should  have  essentially  the  same  in- 


SEX-INSTRUCTION  FOR  YOUNG  WOMEN        195 

struction.  And,  in  the  case  of  both  sexes,  it  is  only 
by  contrasting  the  good  and  evil  that  education  can 
point  out  the  worth-whileness  of  chastity. 

There  is  a  special  aspect  of  the  problem  of  pre- 
marital chastity  of  men  that  young  women  should  un- 
derstand, and  that  is  their  indirect  responsibility  for 
the  unchastity  of  many  men.  In  discuss-  i,^^ 
ing  dancing  ( §35)  and  extreme  dress  ( §36),  responsi- 
it  has  been  indicated  that  women  as  a  sex  bmty' 
have  a  tremendous  responsibility  for  the  temptations 
of  men.  The  same  is  true  hi  the  case  of  flirting  or 
more  extreme  familiarities  with  men.  However 
sure  a  young  woman  may  feel  of  her  own  power  of 
self-control,  she  should  not  consider  lightly  her  pos- 
sible part  in  a  chain  of  events  which  may  lead  men  to 
unchastity  with  other  women.  Many  a  man  driven 
into  the  white  heat  of  passion  by  thoughtless  or 
deliberate  acts  of  a  pure  girl  has  gone  direct  to  seek 
relief  of  tension  in  the  underworld.  Of  course,  the 
girl  in  this  case  is  not  directly  responsible  for  the 
downfall  of  the  man;  but  I  wonder  if  there  is  not 
moral,  if  not  legal,  responsibility  for  one  who 
knowingly  leads  or  helps  another  to  the  brink  of  a 
precipice  from  which  he  voluntarily  falls. 

I  am  perfectly  well  aware  that  many  good  people 
will  be  horrified  by  the  very  suggestion  that  young 
women  should  be  taught  their  responsibility  for 
their  men  associates.  Some  will  declare  that  the 
advocates  of  sex-education  propose  to  destroy  the 
innocence  and  romance  in  young  women's  lives. 
Others  of  the  horrified  ones  will  remain  complacent 


196  SEX-EDUCATION 

because  they  believe  that  unchastity  is  caused  by 
"innate  depravity"  of  men.  I  am  sorry  to  disagree 
with  such  people  who  are  sincere,  but  the  established 
facts  point  clearly  to  the  conclusion  that  it  is  the 
duty  of  the  mothers  and  teachers  of  girls  to  make 
them  understand  their  relations  to  men  and  their  re- 
sponsibility for  helping  young  men  avoid  sexual 
temptations.  This  is  necessary  when  innocence 
stands  in  the  way  of  the  maximum  safety  and  happi- 
ness of  young  people. 

§  42.  Need  of  Optimistic  and  ^Esthetic  Views  of  Sex 
by  Women 

The  most  significant  point  in  the  sex-education 
movement  at  present  is  the  fact  that  numerous 
Many  women  of  the  most  intelligent  groups  are 

women          tending   rapidly   towards   accepting   an 

pessimistic  ....  .  r  •, 

concerning  optimistic  and  aesthetic  view  of  sexual  re- 
sexuality,  lationships  so  far  as  these  are  normal  and 
ethical  and  guided  by  affection.  However,  this 
higher  philosophy  of  sexual  life  is  still  very  far 
from  being  universal  among  educated  women,  and 
it  is  probably  true  that  to  the  great  majority  of 
them  sexuality  has  no  aesthetic  meaning  but  is  simply 
a  very  troublesome  physical  function  and  an  animal 
method  for  perpetuating  the  human  species.  That 
such  an  attitude  should  be  common  is  not  surprising, 
for  in  recent  years  numerous  educated  women 
have  gained  abundant  information  concerning  ab- 
normal sexuality,  while  very  few  have  caught 
glimpses  of  the  higher  possibilities  of  the  sexual 


SEX-INSTRUCTION  FOR  YOUNG  WOMEN        197 

functions.  The  truth  is  that  it  has  been  and  still 
is  difficult  for  most  women  to  get  well-balanced 
knowledge  of  sexual  normality.  There  are  hundreds 
of  books  and  pamphlets  that  deal  with  amazing 
boldness  with  the  sexual  mistakes  of  human  life, 
but  there  is  not  in  general  circulation  to-day  any 
printed  matter  which  deals  with  normal  sexual 
life  with  anything  like  the  frankness  and  directness 
that  is  common  hi  widely  circulated  literature  on 
social  vice  and  its  concomitant  diseases.  Likewise, 
it  is  difficult  for  women  to  get  the  true  view  of  sexual 
life  from  personal  sources,  for  the  vulgar  side  of 
sexuality  is  the  one  usually  discussed  by  most  people, 
some  of  whom  revel  in  obscenity,  some  have  had 
personal  experiences  that  have  caused  ineradicable 
bitterness,  and  some  more  or  less  sincerely  believe 
that  knowledge  of  vice  is  of  value  as  a  safeguard  or 
an  antidote.  The  bright  side  of  the  sexual  story 
is  rarely  told  in  conversation,  either  because  it  is  un- 
familiar or  because  it  is  the  sacred  secret  between 
pairs  of  individuals  who  together  have  found  life  hi 
all  its  completeness. 

Fortunately,  this  depressing  emphasis  on   sexual 
abnormality  is  beginning  to  disappear,  and  we  see 
sure  signs  of  coming  attention  to  sexual  esthetic 
health  rather  than  to  disease  and  to  <"»*!«*. 
purity  rather  than  to  vice.    Leading  women  are 
beginning  to  give,  through  the  impersonal  medium 
of   science   and   general   literature,    some   definite 
and  helpful  testimony  concerning  the  pathway  to 
the  essential  good  that  is  bound  up  in  sexuality. 


IQ8  SEX-EDUCATION 

It  is  especially  important  that  young  women  of 
culture  should  be  helped  to  this  point  of  view,  and 
as  far  as  possible  before  they  learn  much  concern- 
ing the  dark  problems  that  have  originated  from 
failure  to  keep  sexual  functions  sacred  to  affection 
and  possible  parenthood.  The  educated  women 
of  to-day  who  have  acquired  and  retained  faith  in 
the  essential  goodness  of  human  sexual  possibilities, 
and  who  at  the  same  time  have  an  understanding  of 
the  mistakes  that  weak  humans  are  wont  to  make, 
are  sure  to  play  a  most  important  part  as  teachers 
and  mothers  and  leaders  in  the  movement  which 
is  already  guiding  numerous  intelligent  men 
and  women  to  a  purified  and  noble  view  of  the 
sexual  relationships.  As  I  see  the  big  problems 
that  demand  sex-education,  the  future  will  depend 
largely  upon  the  attitude  of  women.  It  is  an  es- 
sential part  of  the  feministic  movement.  In  the 
past  there  have  been  many  alarming  signs  of  a  de- 
structive sex  antagonism  that  charged  men  with 
full  responsibility  for  existing  sex  problems.  But 
the  advance  guards  of  feminism  are  beginning  to 
recognize  that  there  are  all-essential  relationships 
between  the  sexes,  and  that  only  in  sex  cooperation 
can  there  be  any  permanent  solution  of  the  great 
questions.  It  is  a  great  advance  from  the  sex 
hostility  of  Chris tabel  Pankhurst's  "Plain  Facts 
on  a  Great  Evil "  to  the  co- working  attitude  of  Louise 
Creighton's  "Social  Disease  and  How  to  Fight  It," 
of  Olive  Schreiner's  "Woman  and  Labor,"  of  Ellen 
Key's  "Love  and  Marriage,"  and  of  Gascoigne 


SEX-INSTRUCTION  FOR  YOUNG  WOMEN        199 

Hartley's  "Truth  About  Woman,"  all  of  which 
give  us  hope  that  women  with  optimistic  and 
aesthetic  interpretation  of  sex  are  coming  to  take 
the  lead  towards  a  better  understanding  of  the  rela- 
tions of  sex  and  life. 

§  43.  Other  Problems  for  Young  Women 

Concerning  several  other  problems  that  have 
been  discussed  with  special  reference  to  young  men, 
it  seems  best  that  all  young  women  should  be  in- 
formed sometime  between  sixteen  and  twenty-two, 
the  age  limit  depending  upon  maturity  of  the  indi- 
vidual, home  life,  and  social  environment. 

With  regard  to  prostitution,  it  seems  important 
that  girls  should  know  the  essential  facts  recom- 
mended in  the  lecture  concerning  boys.  Prostitu- 
The  "unprotected"  girl  of  low-grade  tion- 
environment  will  often  need  some  of  this  knowledge 
before  she  is  fourteen  (and  in  some  cases,  even 
twelve)  years  old.  On  the  other  hand,  the  average 
"protected"  girl  need  not  know  until  several  years 
later.  It  seems  possible  that  too  early  familiarity 
with  the  existence  of  sexual  vice  might  tend  to  make 
some  young  women  accept  it  as  part  of  the  estab- 
lished order  of  things;  and,  hence,  the  girl  whose 
environment  is  protective  and  whose  moral  training 
has  been  complete  will  be  perfectly  safe  without 
knowledge  of  vice  and  will  be  more  likely  to  take 
an  opposition  attitude  if  she  learns  the  facts  concern- 
ing prostitution  when  she  is  approaching  maturity. 
Even  then  the  essential  information  should  be  given 


200  SEX-EDUCATION 

in  such  a  way  that  the  young  woman  will  see  the 
gravity  of  the  social  situation  and,  at  the  same 
time,  not  develop  a  spirit  of  sex  hostility.  Here, 
again,  I  must  recommend  Louise  Creighton's  "  Social 
Disease  and  How  to  Fight  It"  as  not  only  pointing 
out  the  nature  of  the  great  evil,  but  also  recognizing 
that  the  existing  situation  can  never  be  improved 
except  by  the  sympathetic  cooperation  of  the  best 
men  and  women. 

With  regard  to  dancing,  young  girls  should  be 
taught  that  certain  forms  of  this  exercise  are  not 

approved  by  the  most  refined  people. 

Before  maturity,  they  should  not  know 
the  physiological  reason  for  this  disapproval.  In 
fact,  I  know  many  men  and  women  who  think  it 
best  that  most  women,  even  mature,  should  not 
have  their  attention  called  to  the  sexual  dangers  of 
dancing.  For  my  part,  I  cannot  see  how  women 
with  such  ignorance  can  cooperate  with  the  best  men 
in  reducing  the  admitted  dangers  to  a  minimum. 

With  regard  to  dress  as  a  sexual  problem,  some 
mothers  think  they  can  handle  the  problem  with 

their  young  daughters  by  emphasizing 

modesty  and  without  further  explana- 
tion ;  but  the  drawing  power  of  fashions  is  so  great 
that  most  young  women  are  quick  to  revise  their 
ideas  of  modesty  to  suit  the  latest  style.  Is  it  too 
much  to  hope  that  large  numbers  of  young  women 
would  accept  such  facts  as  were  stated  in  the  lecture 
for  young  men  (§  36),  and  would  be  sincere  enough 
to  dress  so  that  their  attractiveness  may  appeal  more 


PC.KIPF?'     'N -•'TT'JTION 

f  O^ 
BIOUOO'CAL     RESEARCH 

SEX-INSTRUCTION   FOR  YOUNG   WOMEN        2OI 

to  the  aesthetic  and  less  to  the  physical  natures  of 
men? 

In  this  lecture  concerning  the  special  teaching  of 
young  women,  I  have  attempted  nothing  more 
than  an  outline  of  the  impressions  that  I  Merejy 
have  gained  from  books  and  from  rep-  a  man's 
resentative  women  who  are  interested  * 
in  the  larger  sex-education.  I  have  not  tried  to 
make  the  discussion  as  extensive  as  that  for  young 
men,  first,  because  I  cannot  believe  that  young 
women  in  general  need  so  much  special  instruction ; 
and,  second,  because  only  women  can  adequately 
advise  concerning  the  sex-educational  problems  of 
young  women.  However,  since  the  women  who 
might  be  expected  to  know  the  truth  about  women 
have  failed  to  agree  on  so  many  points,  it  may  be 
worth  while  for  a  man  to  contribute  some  sugges- 
tions based  on  the  most  scientific  information 
offered  by  some  very  reliable  women. 

Among  the  books  which  touch  the  special  problems 
for  young  women,  I  am  most  favorably  impressed  by 

the  following:    Hall's  "Life  Problems" 

Books, 
in  the  first  thirty-two  pages  is  adapted 

for  girls  of  twelve  to  fourteen,  and  the  remainder 
for  older  girls.  Some  parents  are  not  enthusiastic 
about  the  story  form,  but  the  facts  are  well  selected 
and  presented.  The  last  chapter  of  Smith's  "Three 
Gifts  of  Life"  is  worth  reading,  but  the  first  chapters 
are  unscientific.  For  almost  mature  young  women, 
there  are  chapters  of  Rummel's  "Womanhood  and 
Its  Development,"  of  Wood-Allen's  "What  a  Young 


202  SEX-EDUCATION 

Woman  Should  Know,"  of  Lowry's  "Herself," 
and  of  Galbraith's  "Four  Epochs  of  a  Woman's 
Life."  The  last  two  are  decidedly  medical  in  point 
of  view.  The  part  for  girls  in  Scharlieb  and  Sibley's 
"Youth  and  Sex,"  and  some  chapters  of  March's 
"Towards  Racial  Health,"  are  good.  The  last 
two  chapters  of  Geddes  and  Thomson's  "Sex" 
will  be  appreciated  by  many  intellectual  young 
women.  Hepburn's  sentimental  little  story  "The 
Perfect  Gift"  (Crist  Co.,  3^)  has  helped  many 
young  people  improve  their  aesthetic  outlook. 
There  are  some  helpful  ideas  in  Henderson's  "What 
It  Is  To  Be  Educated"  (Houghton  Mifflin  Co.). 
While  disagreeing  (§  46)  with  Dr.  Richard  Cabot's 
extreme  emphasis  on  a  mystical  religious  solution 
for  problems  of  sex,  I  recognize  that  many  young 
women  have  been  helped  by  his  "The  Christian 
Approach  to  Social  Morality"  (Y.W.C.A.),  and  by 
his  "  What  Men  Live  By." 


CRITICISMS  OF  SEX-EDUCATION 

In  the  preceding  lectures  we  have  considered  the 
arguments  for  sex-instruction.  It  will  now  be 
helpful  to  review  some  of  the  writings  of  those  who 
oppose  or  at  least  point  out  the  defects  of  the  com- 
monly accepted  plan  of  sex-instruction.  None  of 
those  writers  whom  I  shall  quote  is  known  to  be 
absolutely  opposed  to  all  sex-instruction,  but  some  of 
them  would  limit  the  instruction  so  much  that  there 
would  be  little  hope  of  the  general  movement  having 
an  important  influence. 

§  44.  A  Plea  for  Reticence  Concerning  Sex 

Miss  Agnes  Repplier,  the  distinguished  essayist, 
discusses  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly  (March,  1914)  the 
plain  speech  on  sex  topics  that  are  before  Agnes 
the  public  to-day.     While  she  holds  no  R«ppl»er. 
brief  for  "the  conspiracy  of  silence,"  which  she 
admits  was  "a  menace  in  its  day,"  she  maintains 
that  "the  breaking  of  silence  need  not  imply  the 
opening  of  the  flood-gates  of  speech."    She  goes 
on  to  say : 

"  It  was  never  meant  by  those  who  first  cautiously 
advised  a  clearer  understanding  of  sexual  relations 
203 


2O4  SEX-EDUCATION 

and  hygienic  rules  that  everybody  should  chatter 
freely  respecting  these  grave  issues ;  that  teachers, 
Present  lecturers,  novelists,  story-writers,  mili- 
frankness.  tants,  dramatists,  social  workers,  and 
magazine  editors  should  copiously  impart  all  they 
know,  or  assume  they  know,  to  the  world.  The 
lack  of  restraint,  the  lack  of  balance,  the  lack  of 
soberness  and  common  sense  were  never  more  appar- 
ent than  in  the  obsession  of  sex  which  has  set  us 
all  ababbling  about  matters  once  excluded  from  the 
amenities  of  conversation. 

"  Knowledge  is  the  cry.  Crude,  undigested  knowl- 
edge, without  limit  and  without  reserve.  Give 
it  to  boys,  give  it  to  girls,  give  it  to  children.  No 
other  force  is  taken  account  of  by  the  visionaries 
who  —  in  defiance,  or  in  ignorance  of  history  — 
believe  that  evil  understood  is  evil  conquered. 

"We  hear  too  much  about  the  thirst  for  knowledge 
from  people  keen  to  quench  it.  Dr.  Edward  L. 
Keyes,  president  of  the  Society  of  Sanitary  and 
Moral  Prophylaxis,  advocates  the  teaching  of  sex- 
hygiene  to  children,  because  he  thinks  that  it  is  the 
kind  of  information  that  children  are  eagerly  seek- 
ing. 'What  is  this  topic,'  he  asks,  'that  all  these 
little  ones  are  questioning  over,  mulling  over,  fidget- 
ing over,  worrying  over?  Ask  your  own  memories.' 

"I  do  ask  my  memory  in  vain  for  the  answer 
Dr.  Keyes  anticipates.  A  child's  life  is  so  full, 
One  child's  and  everything  that  enters  it  seems  of 
life.  supreme  importance.  I  fidgeted  over 

my  hair  which  would  not  curl.  I  worried  over  my 
examples  which  never  came  out  right.  I  mulled 
(though  unacquainted  with  the  word)  over  every 
piece  of  sewing  put  into  my  incapable  ringers,  which 
could  not  be  trained  to  hold  a  needle.  I  imagined 
I  was  stolen  by  brigands,  and  became  —  by  virtue 
and  intelligence  —  spouse  of  a  patriotic  outlaw  in 


CRITICISMS  OF  SEX-EDUCATION  205 

a  frontierless  land.  I  asked  artless  questions  which 
brought  me  into  discredit  with  my  teachers,  as, 
for  example,  who  'massacred'  St.  Bartholomew. 
But  vital  facts,  the  great  laws  of  propagation,  were 
matters  of  but  casual  concern  crowded  out  of  my 
life  and  out  of  my  companions'  lives  (in  a  convent 
boarding-school)  by  the  more  stirring  happenings 
of  every  day.  How  could  we  fidget  over  obstetrics 
when  we  were  learning  to  skate,  and  our  very  dreams 
were  a  medley  of  ice  and  bumps?  How  could  we 
worry  over  '  natural  laws '  in  the  face  of  a  tyrannical 
interdict  which  lessened  our  chances  of  breaking 
our  necks  by  forbidding  us  to  coast  down  a  hill 
covered  with  trees?  The  children  to  be  pitied, 
the  children  whose  minds  become  infected  with 
unwholesome  curiosity  are  those  who  lack  cheerful 
recreation,  religious  teaching,  and  the  fine  corrective 
of  work.  A  playground  or  a  swimming  pool  will 
do  more  to  keep  them  mentally  and  morally  sound 
than  scores  of  lectures  on  sex-hygiene. 

"The  world  is  wide,  and  a  great  deal  is  happening 
in  it.  I  do  not  plead  for  ignorance,  but  for  the 
gradual  and  harmonious  broadening  of  Personal 
the  field  of  knowledge,  and  for  a  more  teaching 
careful  consideration  of  ways  and  means,  approved. 
There  are  subjects  which  may  be  taught  in  class, 
and  subjects  which  commend  themselves  to  indi- 
vidual teaching.  There  are  topics  which  admit  of 
plein-air  handling,  and  topics  which  civilized  man, 
as  apart  from  his  artless  brother  of  the  jungles,  has 
veiled  with  reticence.  There  are  truths  which  may 
be,  and  should  be,  privately  imparted  by  a  father, 
a  mother,  family  doctor,  or  an  experienced  teacher ; 
but  which  young  people  cannot  advantageously  ac- 
quire from  the  platform,  the  stage,  the  moving  pic- 
ture gallery,  the  novel  or  the  ubiquitous  monthly 
magazine." 


2O6  SEX-EDUCATION 

There  is  much  in  Miss  Repplier's  paragraphs 
which  will  win  hearty  approval  from  those  who 
have  come  to  believe,  as  advocated  throughout 
this  series  of  lectures,  in  conservative  teaching  of 
sex-hygiene  and  a  larger  outlook  for  sex-education. 

No  doubt  there  has  been  too  great  a  loss  of  a 
certain  kind  of  reticence  and  a  substitution  of  crude 
Current  frankness,  but  it  has  not  been  caused  by 

frankness       the  sex-education  movement.     On  the 

not  due  to 

sex-educa-     contrary,  there  are  two  evident  sources 

tion-  of  the  plain  speech  of  which  Miss  Rep- 

plier  and  others  have  complained :  First,  the  com- 
mercializing of  sex  by  novelists,  dramatists,  theater 
managers,  and  publishers  —  many  of  whom  are 
reaping  a  golden  harvest  and  few  of  whom  have 
any  sincere  interest  in  promulgating  sexual  informa- 
tion to  any  end  except  their  own  pocketbooks. 
Second,  the  development  of  the  feminist  movement 
which  has  its  deepest  foundation  in  the  age-old 
sexual  misunderstandings  of  women  by  men,  and 
which  has  led  on  and  on  into  social  and  political 
complications  of  gravest  significance.  The  very 
nature  of  the  feminist  revolt  from  masculine  domina- 
tion made  plain  speaking  on  sex  matters  inevitable. 
Neither  of  these  sources  of  plain  speech  need 
give  us  cause  for  alarm,  for  a  great  reaction  is  already 

coming.     The  sensationalism  of  sexual 
Reaction  ,  ,         .      .    .         ,  ,      , 

against          revelations  has  had  its  day,   and   the 

sensational     intelligent  public  is  recovering  its  bal- 
frankness. 

ance.    A  lurid  novel  or  play  resembling 

"Damaged  Goods"  or  "The  House  of  Bondage" 


CRITICISMS  OF  SEX-EDUCATION  2O7 

or  certain  vice-commission  reports  would  not  now 
be  accepted  by  some  prominent  publishers  who 
recently  would  not  have  hesitated  to  seize  a  first- 
class  commercial  opportunity  hi  this  line.  The 
fact  is  that  sexual  sensationalism  has  ceased  to 
pay  because  the  intelligent  public  knows  the  main 
facts  and  has  become  disgusted  with  crude  frank- 
ness that  amounts  to  lasciviousness.  On  the  side 
of  feminism  there  is  hope  in  the  widespread  disgust 
with  Cristabel  Pankhurst's  "Plain  Facts  on  a  Great 
Evil"  as  compared  with  the  very  general  approval 
of  Louise  Creighton's  polished  masterpiece,  "The 
Social  Evil  and  How  to  Fight  It.'1  This  repre- 
sents exactly  the  present  attitude  of  numerous 
men  and  women  who  calmly  discuss  together  the 
great  problems  of  life  fearlessly  and  without  any 
elements  of  lasciviousness  such  as  some  people 
seem  to  think  is  necessarily  associated  with  either 
unsexual  or  bisexual  discussion  of  sex  problems. 

Miss  Repplier's  description  of  her  own  lack  of 
youthful  interest  in  things  sexual  is  of  value  simply 
as  applied  to  a  limited  number  of  extra-  w0ta 
protected  girls.  Her  experience  teaches  typical  ****• 
us  nothing  regarding  boys  or  even  girls  under 
average  conditions.  We  know  beyond  any  doubt 
that  average  children  in  or  near  adolescence  do 
seek  the  kind  of  information  that  Miss  Repplier 
denies  having  thought  about.  It  is  not  "pressed 
relentlessly  upon  their  attention"  by  teachers,  but 
by  instinct  and  by  environment.  Playground  and 
swimming  pools  and  religious  influence  and  work 


208  SEX-EDUCATION 

are  all  helpful  in  our  dealings  with  young  people, 
but  all  together  they  are  inadequate  without  some 
information  concerning  sex. 

Finally,  Miss  Repplier,  like  so  many  other  critics 

of  sex-instruction,  has  hi  mind  only  the  physical 

consequences     of     wrong-doing.    Here 

Conclusion.  ••**.•*  t  Ju 

again  is  the  influence  of  the  pioneer  sex- 
hygiene.  However,  she  pleads  for  the  "gradual 
and  harmonious  broadening  of  the  field  of  knowledge 
and  for  a  more  careful  consideration  of  ways  and 
means"  for  sex-instruction.  This  makes  us  believe 
that  she  will  favor  the  larger  sex-education  which 
gives  a  place  to  "  the  cheerful  recreation,  the  religious 
teaching,  the  childish  virtues,  the  youthful  virtues, 
the  wholesome  preoccupation,"  as  well  as  essential 
knowledge  of  physical  facts;  and  all  as  factors  in 
preparing  young  people  consciously  and  uncon- 
sciously to  face  the  inevitable  problems  of  sex. 
On  the  whole,  we  must  regard  Miss  Repplier's 
discussion  as  a  helpful  contribution  to  the  saner 
aspects  of  sex-education. 

§  45.  A  Plea  for  Religious  Approach  to  Sex- 
instruction 

Another  prominent  author  who  does  not  agree 
with  the  current  tendencies  of  sex-instruction  is 
Cosmo  Cosmo  Hamilton  in  his  little  book  en- 

Hamilton,  titled  "A  Plea  for  the  Younger  Genera- 
tion" (Doran  Co.).  He  agrees  with  the  sex-educa- 
tion writers  that  children  should  be  instructed 


CRITICISMS  OF  SEX-EDUCATION  2OO, 

early,  and  as  far  as  possible  by  their  parents;  but 
he  wholly  disagrees  with  the  method  of  biological 
introduction.  He  would  have  parents  go  straight 
to  the  heart  of  the  matter  and  tell  the  child,  as 
simply  and  truly  as  can  be,  just  how  he  came  into 
the  world.  And  he  would  fill  the  teaching  with 
reverence  by  using  as  an  illustration  the  birth  of 
the  babe  of  Bethlehem.  Referring  to  those  who 
in  recent  years  have  been  working  for  a  scientific 
introduction  to  sex-education,  Mr.  Hamilton  says: 

"I  think  that  these  professors  and  scientists  are 
wasting  their  time,  and  I  have  written  this  small  vol- 
ume not  only  in  order  to  make  a  plea  for          . 
the  younger  generation  as  to  the  way  in  apepe^i°u8 
which  they  shall  be  taught  sex  truths, 
but  also  in  order,  if  possible,  to  prove  to  the  advanced 
thinkers  of  the  day  that  it  is  not  old-fashioned  to 
beg  that  God  may  be  put  back  into  the  lives  of  His 
children,  but  a  thing  of  urgent  and  vital  importance. 
Without  faith  the  new  generation  is  like  a  city  built 
on  sand.    Without  the  discipline  and  the  inspira- 
tion of  God  the  young  boys  and  girls  who  will  all 
too  soon  be  standing  in  our  shoes  will  go  through 
life  with  hungry  souls,  with  nothing  to  live  up  to, 
and  very  little  to  live  for." 

All  this  is  very  good  so  far  as  it  appeals  to  the 
religious  type  of  mind,  but  Mr.  Hamilton  seems 
to  forget  that  vast  numbers  of  people 

.  r  Many  not 

cannot  be  approached  from  this  point  reached  by 

of  view.     How  can  the  illustration  of  rel>«i°u8 

appeal, 
the    Christ-child    help    those    who    do 

not  accept  certain  orthodox  religious  beliefs? 


210  SEX-EDUCATION 

§  46.   The  Conflict  between  Sex-hygiene  and  Sex-ethics 

It  has  been  said  in  an  earlier  lecture  that  several 
writers  have  declared  that  sex-ethics  and  sex-hy- 
giene are  essentially  conflicting  and  should  not  be 
associated  in  teaching ;  that  is  to  say,  that  hygienic 
facts  should  not  be  taught  with  the  hope  of  improving 
morals.  Most  prominent  of  those  who  have  de- 
Richard  clared  that  hygienic  and  moral  teaching 
Cabot.  should  be  dissociated  is  Dr.  Richard  C. 

Cabot,  of  Boston.  I  shall  give  in  this  lecture  atten- 
tion to  his  writings  because  they  have  tended  to 
introduce  confusion  by  critical  attention  to  certain 
weak  details  and  unessentials  in  the  original  sug- 
gestions for  sex-education,  and  by  wrongly  assum- 
ing that  the  original  "sex-hygiene"  was  aimed  at 
improved  morals,  whereas  it  was  aimed  directly  at 
health.  In  a  paper  entitled  "Consecration  of  the 
Affections  (often  misnamed  'Sex-hygiene'),"  read 
at  the  fifth  (1911)  Congress  of  the  American  School 
Hygiene  Association,  Dr.  Cabot  attacked  the  kind 
of  sex-instruction  that  is  limited  to  sex-hygiene. 
He  has  later  returned  to  the  attack  on  many  occa- 
sions. I  shall  quote  a  number  of  his  paragraphs 
and  follow  each  with  a  discussion  of  its  contents. 

(i)  "The  straight,  right  action  in  matters  of  hu- 
man affection  has  nothing  to  do  with  hygiene.  For 
Hygiene  hygiene  has  no  words  to  proclaim  as  to 
and  why  you  and  I  should  behave  ourselves, 

conduct.  Hygiene  has  the  right  and  the  duty  to 
make  clear  the  perverted  and  the  diseased  conse- 
quences of  certain  errors.  But  these  consequences 


CRITICISMS  OF  SEX-EDUCATION  211 

are  far  from  constant.  .  .  .  Let  us  disabuse  our 
minds,  then,  of  the  idea  that  there  are  always  bad 
physical  consequences  of  mistake,  error,  or  sin  in 
this  [sex]  field,  and  that  those  consequences  are 
reasons  for  behaving  ourselves.  But  even  if  there 
were  such  consequences,  I  think  it  even  more  mis- 
chievous for  us  to  preach  a  morality  based  upon 
them." 

That  hygienic  knowledge  makes  many  people 
control  their  sexual  selves  is  beyond  dispute.  Be- 
cause the  consequences  of  sexual  error  are  far  from 
constant  is  a  weak  argument  against  pointing  out 
possible  results.  The  consequences  from  pistols 
are  far  from  constant,  and  yet  I  have  no  doubt 
that  Dr.  Cabot  would  teach  small  boys  the  danger 
of  shooting  themselves  and  other  people. 

The  last  quoted  sentence  suggests  Dr.  Cabot's 
whole  basis  of  contention  against  sex-hygiene. 
He  seems  to  have  inferred  from  the  earlier 
papers,  especially  those  by  Dr.  Morrow,  that  the 
hygiene  of  sex  is  to  be  taught  as  an  approach  to 
morality.  On  the  contrary,  the  truth  is  that  the 
aim  of  most  of  the  first  leaders  in  sex-instruction 
was  to  teach  hygiene  and  ethics  primarily  in  order 
to  improve  health.  Dr.  Morrow  and  Hygiene 
others  believed  that  hygienic  teaching  and  ethics 
would  secondarily  react  on  sexual  moral-  f 
ity ;  but  the  original  aim  of  the  Society  of  Sanitary 
and  Moral  Prophylaxis  was  to  limit  the  spread  of 
venereal  disease  by  sanitary,  moral,  and  legal 
means.  In  other  words,  moral  appeals  were  to 
aid  in  checking  disease,  and  knowledge  of  disease 


212  SEX-EDUCATI  ON 

was  not  claimed  to  improve  morality,  although 
such  knowledge  might  react  against  immorality. 
It  is  this  misunderstanding  or  overlooking  of  the 
real  reasons  for  teaching  concerning  sex  health  that 
seems  to  have  led  Dr.  Cabot  into  apparent  opposi- 
tion to  the  general  movement  for  sex-instruction. 
One  infers  from  all  his  lectures  that  he  believes  it 
good  to  teach  hygiene  for  health,  ethics  for  morality, 
and  biology  for  science;  but  that  these  should  not 
be  correlated  because  to  him  they  are  unrelated. 
It  seems  to  me  that  he  has  simply  been  misled  by 
the  overenthusiasm  of  some  of  the  first  writers 
on  sex-hygiene  and  by  the  widespread  use  of  that 
limited  term  instead  of  sex-education. 

(2)  "Now    I    say    that    the    preaching    about 

sex-hygiene  that  is  going  on  in  recent 

Is  sex-  books  and  in  the  periodical  press  is  im- 

hygiene  ,    .      .  ,  ^  T,   V     ,., 

immoral?       moral  in  its  tendency.     It  is  like  say- 
ing, 'Don't  lie,  for  if  you  do,  you  won't 
sleep  at  night,  and  insomnia  is  bad  for  the  health.' " 

If  insomnia  often  follows  lying,  then  it  should 
be  taught  as  one  reason  why  falsehoods  should  be 
avoided.  This  is  not  opposed  to  ethical  teaching, 
for  at  the  same  time  we  can  teach  the  other  reasons 
for  not  telling  lies.  Likewise,  sex-hygiene  offers 
certain  reasons  for  conduct  and  may  be  supplemented 
by  sex-ethics. 

(3)  "The  attempts  to  consecrate  affection  and  to 
safeguard  morality  by  teaching  in  public  or  private 
schools  what  is  called  'sex-hygiene'  will,  I  believe, 


CRITICISMS  OF   SEX-EDUCATION  213 

prove  a  failure.  I  have  very  little  confidence  in 
the  restraining  or  inspiring  value  of  information,  as 
such.  I  have  seen  too  much  of  its  power- 
lessness  in  medical  men  and  students,  formation 
No  one  knows  so  much  of  the  harm  of  moraiity 
morphine  as  the  physicians  do,  yet  there 
are  more  cases  of  morphine  habit  among  physicians 
than  among  any  less  informed  profession.  It  is, 
of  course,  easy  to  make  young  children  familiar 
with  the  facts  of  maternity  and  birth.  Compared 
to  the  ordinary  methods  of  concealment  and  lying 
by  parents  to  children  about  these  matters  this  is 
doubtless  an  improvement,  but  it  does  almost  noth- 
ing to  meet  the  moral  problems  of  sex  which  come 
up  later  in  the  child's  life.  One  may  know  all  about 
maternity,,  without  knowing  anything  of  the  diffi- 
culties and  dangers  of  sex.  Many  have  thought 
that  by  thorough  teaching  of  the  physiology  of 
reproduction  in  plants  and  animals  we  can  anticipate 
and  to  a  considerable  extent  prevent  the  dangers 
and  temptations  referred  to  above." 

It  is  not  proposed  "to  consecrate  affection  "or 
"to  safeguard  morality"  by  hygienic  knowledge; 
but  simply  to  protect  health.  Of  course,  informa- 
tion will  not  restrain  everybody ;  but  if  physicians 
did  not  know  the  dangers  of  morphine  many  more 
would  be  victims  of  the  drug.  Dr.  Cabot  overlooks 
the  fact  that  physicians  know  how  to  use  and  obtain 
morphine,  while  other  professional  men  do  not. 
Teaching  concerning  maternity  and  birth  will  not 
directly  meet  the  moral  problems  of  sex,  but  it  will 
help  develop  an  attitude,  "a  consecration  of  the 
affections,"  that  will  guard  against  the  dangers 
of  sex.  Such  teaching  to  children  is  only  one  of 


214  SEX-EDUCATION 

many  steps  in  the  scheme  of  sex-education.  No 
responsible  advocate  of  sex-instruction  claims  that 
teaching  children  concerning  the  reproduction  of 
animals  and  plants  does  anticipate  and  prevent 
sexual  temptations ;  but  it  is  a  foundation  for  practi- 
cal knowledge  of  human  sex  problems.  I  have  else- 
where referred  to  the  effect  of  such  studies  on 
attitude. 

(4)  "The  positive  moral  qualities  which  make  us 
immune  to  the  dangers  of  sex  are  obtainable  not 
through  warnings  as  to  dangers,  but 
through  the  more  positive  activities  just 
alluded  to.  All  that  is  most  practical 
and  successful  in  this  field  of  endeavor  may  be 
summarized  as  the  contagion  of  personality,  human  or 
divine.  What  is  it  that  keeps  any  of  us  straight  un- 
less it  is  the  contagion  of  the  highest  personalities 
whom  we  have  known,  in  man  and  God  ? " 

We  must  admit  that,  perhaps,  "positive  moral 
qualities"  are  not  obtainable  through  warnings, 
but  in  this  pragmatic  age  we  must  have  good  social 
results  gained  by  any  honorable  means.  Many 
people  are  kept  from  crime  by  warnings  of  the  law. 
Of  course,  this  is  not  a  "positive  moral"  result  for 
the  unethical  individual  who  must  be  restrained  by 
fear  of  legal  consequences,  but  we  do  not  worry 
about  the  individual  when  society  gains.  Like- 
wise, a  man  kept  from  sexual  promiscuity  by  fear 
of  disease  is  not  more  positively  moral,  but  he  is  a 
better  member  of  society.  No  one  will  deny  the 
importance  of  personality  in  its  influence  on  positive 


CRITICISMS  OF   SEX-EDUCATION  21$ 

moral  qualities ;  but  there  are  many  people  who  are 
not  influenced  by  personality,  either  human  or 
divine.  Other  kinds  of  control,  such  as  hygienic 
and  legal,  are  necessary  for  such  people. 

(5)  "A  positive  evil  can  be  driven  out  only  by  a 
much  more  positive  good.     The  lower  Good  and 
passion  can   be   conquered   only   by  a  evil, 
higher  passion." 

Here,  again,  Dr.  Cabot  seems  to  misunderstand 
the  aim  of  hygienic  teaching  regarding  sex.  It  is 
not  expected  "to  conquer  the  lower  passion"  by 
hygiene,  but  to  help  keep  it  under  control  to  the 
end  that  personal  and  social  health  will  be  improved. 
The  opium  evil  (certainly  a  positive  one)  is  being 
driven  out  of  China  by  military  methods  that  are 
good  only  in  their  results  in  suppressing  the  drug. 
Likewise,  hygiene  of  sex  will  be  a  practical  good  in 
so  far  as  it  may  reduce  the  venereal  curse.  "Posi- 
tive good"  in  Dr.  Cabot's  moral  sense  is  only 
of  limited  application  so  far  as  the  majority  of  people 
are  concerned.  In  fact,  the  whole  idea  of  solving 
the  sexual  problems  by  "consecration  of  the  affec- 
tions" makes  its  strong  appeal  only  to  those  who 
have  already  grasped  the  higher  view  of  sex  and  do 
not  need  sex-instruction.  Other  people  cannot 
understand  the  phrase.  We  must  find  some  more 
direct  and  practical  attack  on  the  sex  problems  for 
the  masses ;  and  I  believe  that  this  means  scientific 
teaching  which  improves  attitude,  and  hygienic 
teaching  which  protects  personal  and  social  health. 


2l6  SEX-EDUCATION 

It  is  worth  while  to  get  these  results  even  if  we  do 
not  succeed  in  improving  morals.  That,  I  believe, 
is  another  and  quite  independent  problem. 

In  an  address  published  in  the  Journal  of  the 
Society  of  Sanitary  and  Moral  Prophylaxis,  Vol. 

V,  No.  i,  January  1014,  Dr.  Cabot  con- 
Dissociation      '  ,   ,    '  J       ,      , 
of  hygienic      tended    that    the   hygienic    and    moral 

and  moral      aspects  of  sex-education  should  not  be 

teaching.  ,  .,  , 

associated.  It  is  possible  that  the 
following  review  and  criticisms  may  be  based  upon 
a  misinterpretation;  but  if  so,  I  shall  not  feel 
lonely,  for  at  the  close  of  the  discussion,  Dr.  Cabot 
said  to  his  audience,  "it  is  evident  that  I  have 
not  succeeded  in  touching  even  the  surfaces  of  your 
minds,  and  have  not  made  an  atom  of  impression 
in  making  the  distinction  which  I  desired  to  make." 
Dr.  Cabot's  main  points  are  quoted  below,  and 
my  comments  follow  each  quotation. 

(1)  "Sanitation  can  often  be  conveyed  effectively 
by  information,  but  morality  cannot  be  conveyed 
by  telling  things." 

It  is  certainly  true  that  sanitation  can  be  taught 
Teaching  by  words.  That  words  concerning 
morals.  moral  things  have  no  value  is  a  propo- 
sition which  Dr.  Cabot  did  not  clearly  and  con- 
vincingly support. 

(2)  "People  often  make  sanitary  mistakes  from 
ignorance.     So  far  as  you  are  ignorant  you  cannot 
be  immoral.     Morality  is  conditioned  upon  knowl- 
edge of  the  right  and  wrong  in  question." 


CRITICISMS   OF   SEX-EDUCATION  217 

Of  course,  one  who  is  ignorant  is  unmoral  and 
not  immoral,  but  this  does  not  divorce  sanitary 
and  moral  problems  of  social  disease,  immoral  or 
An  ignorant  and  unmoral  man  may  have  unmoral, 
unsanitary  sexual  habits,  but  enlighten  him  regard- 
ing venereal  disease  and  his  habits  make  him  immoral. 

(3)  "I  cannot  see  that  biology  has  moral  value." 

But  it  may  have  moral  influence  just  as  literature 
and  history  and  biography  may  have.  Moral  value 
Of  course,  pure  biology  alone  will  not  of  biology, 
make  people  more  sexually  moral,  but  no  responsible 
biologist  has  ever  claimed  that  it  will. 

(4)  "In  morals,  we  are  dealing  with  the  will, 
and  if  we  believe  that  the  will  is  guided  by  intelli- 
gence, we  must  believe  that  all  people  who  know 
what  is  right  will  do  what  is  right." 

It  does  not  follow  that  to  know  what  is  right 
is  to  do  what  is  right.  All  depends  Knowledge 
upon  the  relative  weight  of  opposing  and*111- 
factors.  A  medical  student  may  know  the  facts 
regarding  venereal  disease ;  but  he  also  knows  the 
fact  that  his  sexual  instincts  are  insistent.  The 
fact  of  his  passion  may  be  more  weighty  than  his 
scientific  knowledge ;  and  his  will  may  be  guided 
by  intelligent  choice  based  on  comparison  of  the 
two  opposing  facts.  Hence,  it  is  illogical  to  con- 
tend that  knowledge  may  not  influence  moral  con- 
duct and  that  the  will  is  not  guided  by  intelligence. 

(5)  "  Any  good  achieved  in  any  branch  of  morality 
helps  all  morality.    A  person  who  learns  any  kind  of 


2l8  SEX-EDUCATION 

self  control  is  helped  toward  all  kinds.  Anything 
that  helps  self  control  in  one  field  will  help  in  all 
Cultivation  fields,  the  field  of  sex  as  well  as  others, 
of  morality.  Whatever  makes  a  person  more  obedient 
to  conscience  in  matters  of  truth  or  courage  will 
help  him  in  matters  of  chastity.  We  get  morality 
not  by  consciously  cultivating  particular  virtues, 
but  by  making  ourselves  useful  men  and  women, 
by  practice  and  by  the  love  and  imitation  of  our 
betters.  Thus,  morality  is  cultivated  in  hundreds 
of  ways  all  at  once." 

This  is  sound,  but  it  is  in  no  logical  way 
opposed  to  any  other  aspect  of  sex-instruction  dis- 
cussed in  this  series  of  lectures. 

(6)  "Wherever  the  conditions  of  intimacy  and 
interest   exist,  —  intimacy   with   the   right   person 
and  interest  in  the  right  thing,  —  moral  training  is 
going  on." 

This  is  Dr.  Cabot's  strongest  point.  He  be- 
Influenceof  Heves  in  the  moral  influence  of  indi- 
individuais.  yiduals.  So  do  all  leading  advocates 
of  sex-instruction  or  of  any  other  form  of  moral 
education.  This  is  in  no  sense  opposed  to  any 
accepted  proposition  of  sex-education. 

(7)  "Sanitation   may  increase  immorality.  .  .  . 
I  do  care  more  for  morality  than  for  sanitation. 
Where  the  two  conflict  I  want  morality  to  lead  and 
to  govern." 

Right  here  is  the  basis  for  Dr.  Cabot's  repeated 
attacks  on  the  sex-education  movement.  He  be- 
lieves that  morality  and  sanitation  are  decidedly 


CRITICISMS  OF   SEX-EDUCATION  2IQ 

conflicting.    His  address  fails  to  support  this  idea 
with  regard  to  a  single  point  concerned  with  the 
proposed  sex-education.    He  mentioned  Moral8 
only  two  points  wherein  there  is  apparent  rather  than 
conflict,  namely,  prophylaxis  that  allows  healtn- 
immorality  while  avoiding  venereal   disease,   and 
prevention  of  conception.     Neither  of  these  is  di- 
rectly involved  in  the  sex-education  movement,  and 
their  immoral  bearings  are  highly  debatable. 

Venereal  prophylactics  may  increase  promiscuity 
of  some  unmoral  and  immoral  men,  but  if  uni- 
versally and  scientifically  used  by  such  Etnicsof 
men,  there  would  be  little  or  no  infection  venereal 
of  innocent  women  and  children.     There-  * 
fore,  I  assert  that  the  good  that  would  come  from 
the  use  of  prophylactics  by  those  who  do  not  recog- 
nize moral  control  would  be  far  more  significant 
than  the  fact  that  venereal  prophylactics  might 
encourage    immorality.    Those    who    would    use 
prophylactics  would  be  no  worse  morally  than  they 
were  before,  but  society  would  gain  hygienically. 

Regarding  the  morality  of  prevention  of  ferti- 
lization, the  best  of  people  hold  opposing  views. 
A  great  specialist  in  tuberculosis  who  entered  the 
discussion  of  Dr.  Cabot's  paper  convinced  most  of 
his  hearers  that  hygienic  prevention  of  fertilization 
of  tubercular  women  is  a  very  moral  act  Ethics  Of 
for  a  physician   to  advise.      The   real  contracon- 
question  of   morality  involved    in   the 
problem  of  contraconception  is  not  whether  it  is 
immoral  that  sperm-cells  should  be  prevented  from 


22O  SEX-EDUCATION 

swimming  on  towards  an  egg-cell,  but  whether 
there  is  morality  in  a  sexual  union  that  has  its 
meaning  only  in  affection  and  is  not  definitely 
intended  for  propagation.  It  is  obviously  a  com- 
plicated problem  of  hygiene,  psychology,  ethics, 
aesthetics,  religious  beliefs,  social  traditions,  and 
personal  prejudice ;  and  it  is  absurd  to  allow  it  to 
become  entangled  in  the  general  propositions  of 
sex-education.  As  I  have  often  said  in  this  series 
of  lectures,  the  larger  sex-education  aims  at  making 
the  best  possible  adjustments  of  sex  and  life.  If 
the  aesthetic  demands  of  affection  are  in  real  conflict 
with  the  animal  function  of  propagation,  then  a 
pragmatically  ethical  solution  is  found  in  intelli- 
gent control  of  the  original  function.  Ideally,  the 
animal  function  of  propagation  should  be  associated 
with  the  possibilities  of  affection  that  have  developed 
in  the  highest  human  life ;  but  there  are  numerous 
cases  in  which  there  must  be  dissociation  of  the 
functions  of  affection  and  propagation,  or  the  alterna- 
tive is  sexual  asceticism.  Which  is  moral?  This 
is  a  question  concerning  which  the  individual  must 
weigh  his  personal  views  and  decide.  Only  the 
bigoted  victims  of  arrogance  will  see  immorality 
in  the  one  who  disagrees  with  him  on  this  question. 
I  insist,  then,  that  even  if  advanced  sex-education 
for  adults  should  some  day  come  to  involve  the 
problem  of  contraconception,  there  will  be  no  con- 
flict between  hygienic  knowledge  and  ethics,  if  the 
teaching  leads  to  more  perfect  adjustment  of  sex 
and  life. 


CRITICISMS  OF   SEX-EDUCATION  221 

Probably  the  great  majority  of  workers  in  the 
sex-education  movement  do  not  in  the  least  agree 
with  Dr.  Cabot's  attempts  to  dissociate  Dr  Neu 
hygienic  and  moral    problems.    A    far  mann's 
more  helpful  view  is  that  expressed  by  view- 
Dr.    Henry    Neumann,    leader    of    the    Brooklyn 
Ethical  Culture  Society: 

"Problems  of  hygiene,  whether  of  sex,  or  nutri- 
tion, or  temperance  and  the  like,  are  no  less  moral 
problems.  They  are  problems  of  habit ;  and  habits 
are  impossible  without  strong  incentives  to  start 
them  and  keep  them  going.  .  .  .  Ethical  instruc- 
tion is  often  misunderstood  to  be  barren  preaching. 
It  is  nothing  of  the  sort.  It  consists  in  clarifying 
views  of  life.  It  begins  with  the  fact  that  there 
are  certain  tendencies  in  our  nature  which  may  work 
ill  or  good.  Then  it  tries  to  show  to  what  these  lead. 
It  uses  what  is  best  in  us  to  make  over  what  is  worst. 
That  is  why  problems  of  sex-hygiene  should  be  re- 
garded as  at  bottbm  problems  of  sex-morality." 

§  47.   The  Arrogance  of  the  Advocates  of  Sex-education 

In  an  article  in  the  Educational  Review,  February, 
1914,  Superintendent  Maxwell,  of  New  York  City, 
writes  concerning  what  he  calls  "the  teaching  of 
child  hygiene"  as  follows: 

"There  are  those  to-day  who  claim  that  sexual 
information  and  problems  should  be  thrust  upon 
the  attention  of  boys  and  girls  by  the  DT.  Max- 
teachers  in  the  public  schools,  that  this  well's 
teaching  is  necessary  for  the  protection  critk»sm«- 
of  virtue  and  the  prevention  of  disease,  and  that, 
if  anyone  hesitates  to  encourage  the  spread  of  such 


222  SEX-EDUCATION 

literature  and  the  teaching  of  such  knowledge,  he 
is  an  arrant  and  presumptuous  blockhead.  The 
arrogance  of  the  extreme  advocates  of  child  hygiene 
blinds  them  to  certain  all-important  truths.  The 
first  is  that  our  teachers  are  not  prepared,  and,  in 
too  many  cases,  are  not  the  most  suitable  persons 
to  teach  the  subject.  The  second  is  that  to  bring 
the  adolescent  mind  face  to  face  with  sexual  matters 
engenders  the  habit  of  dwelling  upon  the  sexual 
passion,  and  in  that  may  lie  spiritual  havoc  and 
physical  ruin.  A  premature  interest  in  the  sexual 
passion  debases  the  mind  and  unsettles  the  will. 
The  third  is  that  parents  have  no  right  to  ask  the 
teacher  to  do  the  work  that  is  peculiarly  theirs. 

"And  yet  some  good  may  emerge  from  this  dis- 
cussion. Parents  may  be  incited  to  do  their  duty 
in  placing  sex  information  before  their  children 
whenever  conditions  demand  such  knowledge. 
And  principals  and  teachers,  particularly  principals, 
whenever  they  have  the  acuteness  to  detect  the 
tendency  to  wrong-doing,  will  no  longer  hesitate 
to  utter  the  word  of  warning  in  season.  As  for 
the  extravagant  claims  made  for  the  teaching  of 
sex-hygiene,  I  have  too  much  faith  in  the  good  sense 
of  the  American  people  to  believe  that  it  will  ever 
be  generally  and  regularly  taught  in  American 
schools.  Surely,  we  have  learned  something  since 
the  law  compelled  us  to  teach  the  untruths  regard- 
ing the  effects  of  stimulants  and  narcotics  that 
were  published  in  the  early  school  manuals  of 
physiology  and  hygiene." 

I  comment  as  follows:  (i)  Dr.  Maxwell  refers 
only  to  the  "extreme  advocates."  They  did  exist 
in  abundance  a  few  years  ago,  but  are  already  rare 
in  the  group  of  well-known  educators.  (2)  Most 


CRITICISMS  OF   SEX-EDUCATION  223 

teachers  are  not  prepared  and  never  can  be  pre- 
pared to  teach  the  human  aspect  of  sex  problems, 
especially  the  hygienic  in  the  strict  Reply  to  Dr. 
sense.  (3)  Conservative  sex-instruction  Maxwell, 
such  as  was  advocated  by  the  advisers  of  the 
American  Federation  for  Sex-hygiene  (see  "Report" 
by  Morrow  and  others,  1913)  aims  to  guard  against 
"premature  interest  in  the  sexual  passion."  (4) 
While  I  sympathize  with  Dr.  Maxwell's  view  that 
teaching  the  elementary  hygiene  of  sex  is  the  parent's 
duty,  I  am  forced  to  recognize  the  futility  of  advo- 
cating that  all  or  even  a  respectable  minority  of 
parents  should  undertake  their  duty  (see  §  4). 
The  truth  is  that  most  of  them  will  not,  and  cannot 
if  they  will,  try  to  do  so.  (5)  Dr.  Maxwell's  idea 
that  s«x-hygiene  should  be  taught  only  when  an 
astute  principal  or  parent  "detects  wrong-doing" 
is,  to  say  the  least,  an  educational  theory  that  will 
astonish  one  who  knows  even  the  elementary  facts 
regarding  the  secrecy  of  the  sexual  life  of  young 
people  in  general.  Will  he  next  be  logically  con- 
sistent and  advocate  that  all  moral  education  should 
be  given  only  after  children  show  signs  of  wrong- 
doing? (6)  Sex-hygiene,  as  Dr.  Maxwell  under- 
stands it  to  be  concerned  directly  and  solely  with 
human  sexual  problems,  will  never  be  taught  in 
American  schools  controlled  by  people  of  good  sense ; 
but  sex-instruction  from  the  larger  viewpoint  is 
taught  in  some  of  the  best  of  Dr.  Maxwell's  high 
schools.  (7)  All  advocates  of  sex-instruction  who 
have  a  national  reputation  for  educational  sanity 


224  SEX-EDUCATION 

agree  that  legislation  is  most  undesirable.  (8) 
It  is  obvious  that  like  so  many  others  who  have 
become  confused  regarding  the  sex-education  move- 
ment, Dr.  Maxwell  has  been  impressed  chiefly  by 
the  pioneer  work  that  emphasized  only  hygienic 
teaching  regarding  sex. 

§  48.   Lubricity  in  Education 

Ex-President  Taft  has  expressed  his  views  against 
the  sex-education  movement.  The  newspapers 
quote  as  follows  from  an  address  delivered  in  Phila- 
delphia in  1914 : 

"There  is  another  danger  in  our  educational  in- 
fluences and  environment.  I  refer  to  the  spread  of 
lubricity  in  literature,  on  the  stage  and  indirectly 
in  education,  under  the  plea  that  vice  may  be 
avoided  by  teaching  the  awful  consequences.  By 
dwelling  on  its  details  and  explaining  its  penalties, 
sexual  subjects  are  obtruded  into  discussion  be- 
tween the  sexes,  lectures  are  delivered  on  them, 
textbooks  are  written,  and  former  restraints  of 
modesty  are  abandoned. 

"The  pursuit  of  education  in  sex-hygiene  is  full 
of  danger  if  carried  on  in  general  public  schools. 
The  sharp,  pointed  and  summary  advice  of 
^^m  £  mothers  to  daughters,  of  fathers  to  sons, 
of  a  medical  professor  to  students  in  a  col- 
lege upon  such  a  subject  is,  of  course,  wise,  but  any 
benefit  that  may  be  derived  from  frightening  stu- 
dents by  dwelling  upon  the  details  of  the  dreadful 
punishment  of  vice  is  too  often  offset  by  awakening 
a  curiosity  and  interest  that  might  not  be  developed 
so  early  and  is  likely  to  set  the  thoughts  of  those 
whose  benefit  is  at  stake  in  a  direction  that  will 


CRITICISMS  OF  SEX-EDUCATION  225 

neither  elevate  their  conversations  with  their  fellows 
nor  make  more  clean  their  mental  habit. 

"I  deny  that  the  so-called  prudishness  and  the 
avoidance  of  nasty  subjects  in  the  last  generation 
has  ever  blinded  any  substantial  number  of  girls 
or  boys  to  the  wickedness  of  vice  or  made  them 
easier  victims  of  temptations." 

The  above  requires  little  comment,  for  its  misun- 
derstandings are  obvious  to  one  who  has  followed 
the  sex-education  movement.  Clearly  Evident 
Mr.  Taft  has  been  impressed  by  the  misunder- 
social-hygiene  side  of  the  problems  and  s  g' 
does  not  realize  the  existence  of  a  larger  outlook  for 
sex-education.  Like  so  many  other  writers  who 
seem  to  know  little  concerning  the  sexual  life  of 
children,  especially  of  boys,  Mr.  Taft  fears  "the 
awakening  of  curiosity  and  interest"!  This,  of 
course,  depends  upon  the  facts  taught  and  the  age 
of  the  learner,  but  it  hardly  applies  to  children  in  or 
near  adolescence  who  are  taught  along  the  lines 
suggested  by  the  committee  of  the  American  Feder- 
ation for  Sex-Hygiene  (1913).  The  last  paragraph 
quoted  from  Mr.  Taft  will  be  denied  completely 
by  all  who  are  familiar  with  the  problems  of  adoles- 
cent education.  To  say  the  least,  it  is  unfortunate 
that  a  man  prominent  in  law  and  statesmanship 
should  have  lent  the  weight  of  his  name  to  such 
superficial  conclusions  that  are  so  obviously  based 
on  exceedingly  limited  information  regarding  both 
the  established  facts  of  sex  and  the  most  approved 
methods  of  sex-instruction. 
Q 


226  SEX-EDUCATION 

§  49.  Conclusions  from  the  Criticisms  of  Sex-education 

I  have  selected  for  discussion  the  criticisms  of 
several  of  the  most  prominent  people  who  have 
expressed  opposition  to  the  sex-education  move- 
ment. I  think  that  all  the  important  lines  of  argu- 
ments against  the  movement  are  represented  in 
the  extracts  that  I  have  quoted.  We  have  seen 
that  all  of  the  criticisms  have  decidedly  vulnerable 
points.  Most  of  them  refer  to  the  discarded  sex- 
hygiene  of  ten  years  ago ;  but  some  of  them  prove 
that  the  authors  are  quite  ignorant  of  the  sex  prob- 
lems that  must  be  faced  by  numerous  young  people. 

With  the  hope  of  locating  the  weaknesses  of  sex- 
education,  I  have  for  years  examined  carefully 
Criticisms  every  criticism  published,  and  it  seems 
important.  to  me  thoroughly  scientific  to  conclude 
that  all  the  important  criticisms  have  not  harmed 
the  essentials  of  the  sex-education  movement ;  but, 
on  the  contrary,  have  been  helpful  in  forcing  recon- 
struction. In  fact,  the  present-day  conception  of 
the  larger  sex-education  must  be  credited  to  the 
severe  critics  more  than  to  the  friends  of  the  original 
narrow  movement  for  reducing  venereal  disease  by 
hygienic  instruction. 


XI 


THE  PAST  AND  THE  FUTURE  OF  THE  SEX- 
EDUCATION  MOVEMENT 

§  50.   The  American  Movement 

In  America  the  movement  for  sex-education 
began  with  the  organization  of  the  American  Society 
of  Sanitary  and  Moral  Prophylaxis  on  ^  Morrow 
February  9,  1905,  under  the  leadership  leader  in 
of  Dr.  Prince  A.  Morrow.  It  is  true  that  A™"*6* 
before  this  time  there  were  various  local  and  sporadic 
attempts  at  instruction  concerning  sexual  processes, 
but  such  teaching  was  chiefly  personal  and  there 
was  no  concerted  movement  looking  towards  mak- 
ing sex-instruction  an  integral  part  of  general  edu- 
cation. In  1892,  thirteen  years  before  the  organi- 
zation of  the  Society  of  Sanitary  and  Moral  Pro- 
phylaxis, a  group  of  members  of  the  National 
Education  Association  considered  briefly  the  im- 
portance of  instructing  young  people.  However, 
this  meeting  was  of  ephemeral  significance  and  had 
no  genetic  relation:  to  the  present-day  movement. 
Other  early  interest  in  sex-instruction  is  indicated 
in  Professor  Earl  Barnes's  bibliography  which  was 
published  hi  his  "Studies  in  Education,"  Vol.  I, 
p.  301,  1897. 

227 


228  SEX-EDUCATION 

The  educational  activities,  especially  the  publi- 
cations of  the  American  Society  of  Sanitary  and 
Moral  Prophylaxis,  soon  attracted  the  serious 
attention  of  numerous  physicians,  ministers,  and 
educators  in  various  parts  of  the  United  States ;  and 
about  twenty  other  societies  for  study  and  improve- 
ment of  the  sex  problems  were  organized  within 
a  few  years  after  the  original  society. 

The  sex-education  movement  both  in  Europe 
and  America  had  its  origin  as  an  attempt  to  check 
Original  aim  tne  sPread  °f  ^e  venereal  or  social  dis- 
for  sanitary  eases.  The  idea  that  education  should 
work  for  sexual  morality  for  its  own  sake 
and  not  simply  for  protection  against  venereal 
diseases  has  only  recently  begun  to  appear  in  the 
literature  of  sex-education,  and  so  far  it  seems  to 
have  made  only  a  limited  impression  on  many 
of  those  who  have  been  active  in  the  prophylactic 
campaign  against  social  disease.  In  fact,  the  tardy 
recognition  of  the  moral  aim  of  sex-education  makes 
it  seem  probable  that  very  little  interest  would 
have  been  aroused  in  the  movement  if  it  had  been 
organized  on  purely  ethical  grounds  and  without 
any  reference  to  the  sanitary  problems  of  social 
diseases.  To  one  who  looks  at  sexual  morality 
as  a  question  of  right  conduct  which  brings  its  own 
rewards,  it  is  a  shock  to  find  so  many  thinking 
people  who  accept  calmly  the  traditional  views  of 
the  relation  of  the  sexes  and  seem  to  take  no  interest 
in  the  immorality  of  men  except  as  it  is  likely  to 
lead  to  venereal  disease  or  to  illegitimacy  which 


PAST  AND  FUTURE  OF  SEX-EDUCATION       22Q 

demands  forced  marriage  or  monetary  payments. 
The  truth  is  that  the  civilized  world  at  large  is  very 
far  from  a  working  code  of  sexual  morals  which  will 
be  practiced  because  of  promised  rewards  rather 
than  because  of  probable  punishments.  It  is  nat- 
ural, then,  that  the  sex-education  movement  should 
have  started  with  a  proclamation  of  physical  pun- 
ishments for  immorality  rather  than  an  offer  of 
ethical  and  psychical  rewards  for  morality. 

However,  the  fact  that  sex-education,  under  the 
name  of  "sex-hygiene,"  was  at  first  a  sanitary  prop- 
agandism  need  not   interfere   with   the  Bothsani. 
larger  development  of  sex-education.     It  tary  and 
now  seems  probable  that  before  many  moral 
years  pass  we  shall  learn  how  to  make  a  satisfactory 
combination  of  both  the  sanitary  and  moral  sides 
of  sex-education,  and  so  it  is  best  that  the  educa- 
tional movement  started  on  the  foundation  of  the 
undisputed  facts  of  sanitary  science  which  have 
made  a  powerful  impression  on  the  people  who  do 
and  who  do  not  recognize  a  code  of  sexual  morals. 

The  deep  interest  of  the  medical  profession  is 
directly  responsible  for  the  close  association  between 
the  beginning  of  the  sex-education  move-  Medical 
ment  and  the  diseases  of  immorality.     At  in**1"88*- 
the  organization  meeting  of  the  American  Society 
of  Sanitary  and   Moral   Prophylaxis,   Dr.   Prince 
Morrow  hi  the  opening  paragraph  of  his  address 
said :  "  We  have  met  for  the  purpose  of  discussing 
the  wisdom  and  the  expediency  of  forming  a  society 
of  sanitary  and   moral  prophylaxis.    The  object 


230  SEX-EDUCATION 

is  to  organize  a  social  defense  against  a  class  of 
diseases  which  are  most  injurious  to  the  highest 
interests  of  human  society."  Thus,  the  American 
Society  of  Sanitary  and  Moral  Prophylaxis  started 
as  an  avowed  enemy  of  the  social  diseases  and  so  it 
has  continued  to  the  present.  The  very  name  of 
its  official  journal,  Social  Diseases,1  indicated  the 
central  idea  of  the  Society.  Likewise,  most  of  the 
local  American  societies  for  sex-hygiene  have  names 
including  such  phrases  as  "social  hygiene,"  "pre- 
vention of  social  diseases,"  "sanitary  prophylaxis"; 
and  only  one,  the  Massachusetts  Society  for  Sex 
Education,  has  a  name  which  does  not  directly 
suggest  the  medical  problems  of  sex. 

In   Europe,    the   sex-instruction   movement  has 
been  concerned  chiefly  with  spreading  information 

concerning  the  social  diseases.  In  1002 
In  Europe.  .  .  .  ,  .  , 

an  international  congress  for  considera- 
tion of  the  venereal  diseases  was  held  in  Brussels, 
and  this  congress  recommended  that  in  all  countries 
there  should  be  organized  sanitary,  social,  moral, 
and  legal  societies  for  the  prophylaxis  of  these  dis- 
eases. As  a  result  of  this  recommendation,  pro- 
phylactic societies  were  formed  in  France,  Ger- 
many, Italy,  Holland,  the  United  States,  and 
other  countries.  Of  these,  the  German  society 
for  the  prevention  of  venereal  disease  became  the 
strongest,  with  over  five  thousand  members  and 
twenty  branch  societies. 

1  The  name  was  changed  in  1913  to  Journal  of  the  Society  of  Sani- 
tary and  Moral  Prophylaxis. 


PAST  AND  FUTURE  OF  SEX-EDUCATION       231 

The  fact  that  the  American  Society  of  Sanitary 
and  Moral  Prophylaxis  was  organized  by  a  group 
of  people  in  New  York  City  tended  from  National 
the  beginning  to  make  it  a  local  society,  societies. 
While  for  several  years  it  took  the  lead  in  sex-hy- 
giene and  enrolled  members  residing  in  many  parts 
of  the  United  States,  it  was  never  a  national  organi- 
zation. In  recent  years  the  word  "  American  "  has 
been  omitted  from  its  name,  and  its  work  has  been 
limited  to  New  York  City  and  vicinity.1  Many  inde- 
pendent state  and  city  societies  were  organized  within 
a  few  years  after  the  original  sex-hygiene  society  in 
New  York.  This  multiplication  of  societies  called 
attention  to  the  need  of  a  national  organization,  and 
in  1910  the  various  societies  were  affiliated  in  the 
American  Federation  for  Sex-Hygiene.  Dr.  Morrow 
was  the  leading  spirit  in  the  Federation  until  his  death. 
In  1913,  the  Federation  and  the  American  Vigilance 
Association  (a  society  especially  concerned  with  the 
social  evil)  were  united  in  the  American  Social  Hygiene 
Association.  Its  offices  are  at  105  West  40th  Street, 
New  York  City.  , 

§  51.   Important  Steps  in  the  Sex-education  Movement 
in  America 

May  23,  1904.  Dr.  Prince  Morrow's  plea  for  the  organi- 
zation of  a  society  of  sanitary  and  moral  prophylaxis,  read 
before  the  Medical  Society  of  the  County  of  New  York. 

1  While  this  book  was  in  press,  the  name  was  changed  to  New 
York  Social  Hygiene  Society. 


232  SEX-EDUCATION 

February  9,  1905.  Organization  meeting  of  the  American 
Society  of  Sanitary  and  Moral  Prophylaxis,  in  New  York. 

March,  1906.  Pennsylvania  Society  for  the  Prevention  of 
Social  Diseases  organized. 

October,  1906.  Chicago  Society  of  Social  Hygiene  or- 
ganized. 

December,  1907.  Portland  (Ore.)  Social  Hygiene  Society 
organized. 

October,  1908.  Spokane  Society  of  Social  and  Moral 
Prophylaxis  organized. 

June,  1910.  American  Federation  for  Sex-Hygiene  or- 
ganized. 

1911.    Oregon  Social  Hygiene  Society  organized. 

July  20,  1912.  Resolution  of  the  National  Education 
Association  favoring  training  of  teachers  with  the  view,  ulti- 
mately, of  sex-instruction  in  schools. 

September  23-28,  1912.  Meeting  of  subsection  on  sex- 
hygiene,  Fifteenth  International  Congress  on  Hygiene  and 
Demography.  Washington,  D.C. 

February,  1912.  Organization  of  American  Vigilance 
Association. 

October,  1913.  Merging  of  the  American  Federation  for 
Sex-Hygiene  and  the  American  Vigilance  Association  into  the 
new  American  Social  Hygiene  Association. 

1913.  Organization  of  Pacific  Coast  Federation  for  Sex- 
Hygiene,  changed  to  Pacific  Coast  Social  Hygiene  Association 
in  June,  1914. 

July,  1914.  The  National  Education  Association,  at  Minne- 
apolis, adopted  the  following  resolutions  in  line  with  the  latest 
principles  of  the  Society  of  Sanitary  and  Moral  Prophylaxis 
and  the  American  Social  Hygiene  Association : 

"The  Association,  re-affirming  its  belief  in  the 
constructive  value  of  education  in  sex-hygiene, 
directs  attention  to  the  grave  dangers,  ethical 
and  social,  arising  out  of  a  sex  consciousness  stimu- 
lated by  undue  emphasis  upon  sex  problems  and 


PAST  AND  FUTURE  OF  SEX-EDUCATION       233 

relations.  The  situation  is  so  serious  as  to  render 
neglect  hazardous.  The  Association  urges  upon 
all  parents  the  obvious  duty  of  parental  care  and 
instruction  in  such  matters  and  directs  attention 
to  the  mistake  of  leaving  such  problems  exclusively 
to  the  school.  The  Association  believes  that  sex- 
hygiene  should  be  approached  in  the  public  schools 
conservatively  under  the  direction  of  persons 
qualified  by  scientific  training  and  teaching  experi- 
ence in  order  to  assure  a  safe  moral  point  of  view. 
The  Association,  therefore,  recommends  that  insti- 
tutions preparing  teachers  give  attention  to  such 
subjects  as  would  qualify  for  instruction  in  the 
general  field  of  morals  as  well  as  in  the  particular 
field  of  sex-hygiene." 

§  52.    The  Future  of  the  Larger  Sex-education 

I  hear  many  questions  as  to  the  probable  future  of 
sex-education.     I  am  asked:    "Is  it  moribund?" 
"Is  it  a  disappearing  fad?"    "Has  not  Public  ^g 
the  high  tide  of  interest  passed?"    No  iost  interest 
doubt  such  questions'are  inspired  by  the  *?  sensa- 

/    .         tionalism. 

oft-repeated  statement  that  public  in- 
terest in  sexual  questions  has  waned  decidedly  in  the 
last  few  years.  This  is  true,  and  it  is  a  most  fortunate 
indication  of  approaching  sanity.  The  public  interest 
in  the  last  decade  has  been  most  deplorable,  because  it 
has  centered  in  the  abnormal  and  sensational  aspects  of 
sex.  Authors  have  vied  with  each  other  in  presenting 
the  most  lurid  cases  of  social  diseases,  white  slavery, 
sexual  perversions,  and  every  other  available  aspect 
of  sexual  degeneracy.  Of  course,  the  reading  public 
was  bound  to  grow  tired  of  this,  just  as  it  wearies 


234  SEX-EDUCATION 

of  a  horrible  murder  trial  or  of  a  sensational  divorce 
case.  It  is  certainly  true  that  there  is  a  marked 
decline  of  general  interest  in  sexual  abnormality  and 
sensationalism ;  but  that  does  not  mean  that  the  sex- 
education  movement  is  moribund. 

The  wave  of  sensational  revelation  has  passed; 
but  the  intelligent  public  is  no  longer  ignorant  of  the 
Sez-educa-  na-ture  and  causes  of  the  great  problems 
tion  per-  of  sex,  and  is  well  aware  that  young  peo- 
manent.  pje  nee(j  (jemiite  guidance  for  facing  the 
facts  of  life.  It  is  unthinkable  that  intelligent 
parents  who  are  now  well  informed  concerning  sex 
will  ever  again  stand  for  the  old  policy  of  mystery 
and  silence.  It  is,  therefore,  impossible  to  believe 
that  there  is  any  danger  of  sex-education  disappear- 
ing. Of  course,  we  have  not  reached  a  permanent 
system  of  sex-education.  There  certainly  will  be 
vast  changes  in  our  approved  subject  matter  and 
methods  of  teaching ;  but  the  main  idea  of  the  sex- 
education  movement  is  gaining  support  every  day. 

There  is  another  reason  why  sex-education  will  be 
permanent.  In  addition  to  the  great  need  of  educa- 
Sex-educa-  ti°nal  ne^P  with  information  and  influ- 
tion  funda-  ence  which  will  mold  the  individual  life 
with  regard  to  the  problems  of  sex,  it 
must  be  evident  to  all  that  even  the  legislative, 
sanitary,  social  administrative,  religious,  ethical, 
and  other  attacks  upon  the  problems  depend  upon 
knowledge  and  attitude,  at  least  of  the  leaders. 
Look  at  the  problems  of  sex  outlined  in  the  earlier 
lectures  from  whatever  angle  we  will,  and  it  appears 


PAST  AND  FUTURE   OF  SEX-EDUCATION       235 

that,  in  the  final  analysis,  education  offers  the  only 
key  to  a  possible  solution.  Therefore,  I  assert  that 
sex-education  —  the  larger  sex-education  —  is  an 
absolutely  fundamental  factor  in  every  phase  of  the 
social-hygiene  and  sex-ethical  movement. 

In  closing  the  last  lecture  of  this  series,  let  me 
state  my  confession  of  faith  in  sex-education :  It  is 
certainly  only  one  of  several  possible  lines  m^,^  ef 
of  attack  on  the  alarming  sex  problems  feet  of  sex- 
of  our  time ;  but  it  offers  the  most  hopeful  cducatlon- 
outlook  towards  improved  sexual  morals  and  health, 
both  physical  and  psychical.  However,  we  shall 
gain  nothing  of  permanent  value  by  extravagant 
claims  or  hopes  as  to  the  ultimate  effect  of  sex-educa- 
tion. We  must  expect  incomplete  results.  It  will  not 
entirely  solve  the  sex  problems  for  all  individuals  who 
receive  instruction ;  but  it  will  solve  all  of  the  prob- 
lems of  many  individuals  and  help  many  others.  It 
will  not  eradicate  the  social  evil  and  its  characteristic 
diseases,  but  it  will  protect  many  young  people  and 
so  reduce  the  sum  total  of  awful  consequences. 
It  will  not  prevent  all  divorces  and  matrimonial 
disharmonies,  but  already  the  biological  teaching 
is  helping  and  some  day  the  social-ethical  problems 
will  be  understood  and  then  most  intelligent  men 
and  women  will  understand  the  fundamental 
principles  for  permanent  and  harmonious  mono- 
gamic  marriage.  Finally,  sex-education  will  not 
enforce  universal  sexual  morality  in  conformity 
with  our  accepted  code,  but  it  will  help  many  indi- 
viduals through  decisive  battles  with  sex-instincts. 


236  SEX-EDUCATION 

Such  are  some  of  the  lines  along  which  extreme 

claims  and  hopes  for  sex-education  have  been  and 

are  still  being  made.    There  is  some  truth 

tion  and        m  each ;  in  fact,  there  is  more  than  enough 

general  |-o  justify  the  present  movement  for  sex- 
education.  .  .  _  „  ,  ,  ,  . 

education.    To  all  those  who  see  nothing 

in  the  movement  because  it  will  not  solve  all  the  sex 
problems  which  have  created  a  demand  for  special 
instruction,  we  may  reply  by  simply  pointing  to  the 
fact  that  general  education  makes  some  better  and 
more  efficient  citizens,  but  many  times  it  fails  to  give 
desirable  results.  We  believe  in  general  education  be- 
cause it  aims  to  offer  all  individuals  help  in  preparation 
for  more  efficient  life,  although  it  succeeds  only  in 
part.  Likewise,  we  should  stand  for  the  instruction 
of  all  young  people  in  matters  concerning  sex  because 
it  is  certain  that  such  knowledge  will  function  com- 
pletely in  many  lives  and  will  work  appreciable 
good  in  many  others. 

I  cannot  believe  that  sex-education  is  one  of  the 
long  line  of  modern  educational  fads  which  quickly 

pass  their  day,  for  no  other  phase  of  edu- 
Apermanent          .  ,       ,  .         ...         TT. 

and  essen-     cation  so  closely  touches  life.     History 

tial  part  of  an(j  geography  and  even  a  large  part  of  the 
education.  «  ,  .  ,  ,,.  ,  ,. 

three  Rs    may  be  of  little  use  in  thehves 

of  numerous  people,  but  sex-education  deals  with 
problems  which  the  normal  human  life  cannot  possibly 
avoid  and  which  each  individual  must  be  prepared 
to  solve  for  himself.  Therefore,  we  may  confidently 
assert  that  instruction  concerning  the  most  impor- 
tant aspects  of  sex  processes  and  relationships  will 


PAST  AND  FUTURE  OF  SEX-EDUCATION        237 

soon  be  recognized  as  an  absolutely  necessary  part  of 
a  rational  and  efficient  scheme  for  the  education  of 
young  people. 

The  larger  sex-education  is  sure  to  have  a  per- 
manent place  in  the  never-ending  work  of  preparing 
coming  generations  for  the  highest  de- 

i  ,  ,.,  ,  .,  ...  .  _,     .     The  never- 

velopment  of  hies  possibilities.  Each  ending  prob- 
succeeding  generation  of  young  people  lem  of  good 
must  be  prepared  by  educational  pro- 
cesses to  face  intelligently  and  bravely  the  problems 
of  sex  that  are  sure  to  come  into  every  normal  life. 
Of  course,  sex-education  at  its  best  development  can 
do  no  more  than  give  the  individual  a  basis  for  intelli- 
gent choice  between  good  and  evil ;  but  here,  as  in  all 
other  upward  movements  of  human  life,  the  decision 
must  depend  upon  a  clear  and  positive  recognition  of 
the  advantages  of  the  good  as  contrasted  with  the 
evil.  Hence,  the  one  essential  task  of  sex-education 
in  its  broadest  outlook  is  to  guide  natural  human 
beings  to  recognition  and  choice  of  the  best  in  the 
sexual  sphere  of  life.  And  in  so  far  as  each  coming 
generation  of  individuals  may  be  thus  guided  by 
the  larger  sex-education,  the  problems  of  sex  will  be 
pragmatically  solved,  for  the  social  aggregate  of 
human  life  will  become  better,  happier,  nobler, 
truer,  more  in  harmony  with  the  highest  ideals  of 
life,  more  like  our  vision  of  perfected  humanity. 


xn 

SOME  BOOKS  FOR  SEX-EDUCATION 

I  have  decided  to  publish  only  the  names  of  se- 
lected books  which  seem  to  me  to  be  the  best  for 
teachers,  parents,  and  young  people.  In  making 
the  selection,  I  have  considered  several  hundred 
books  which  bear  on  the  sex  problems  in  an  edu- 
cational way,  and  have  decided  to  reject  the  ma- 
jority of  them.  While  there  might  be  some  value  in 
a  long  list  with  critical  notes  on  books  that  I  can- 
not recommend,  it  would  be  a  worse  than  thankless 
task  to  compile  such  an  annotated  bibliography; 
for  the  compiler  would  surely  add  to  his  collection 
of  enemies  many  authors  whose  books  deserve 
severe  criticism.  The  sudden  and  sensational 
publicity  concerning  matters  of  sex  and  the  possi- 
bility of  commercial  exploitation  has  produced  an 
avalanche  of  sex  books,  some  good,  many  bad,  and 
the  majority  ordinary.  Evidently,  most  of  the 
authors,  including  numerous  physicians,  have  written 
to  order  and  without  special  preparation. 

The  books  of  the  following  lists  are  not  all  deserv- 
ing of  unqualified  recommendation.  In  fact,  some 
of  them  are  included  because  they  are  the  least 
objectionable  of  their  much-needed  kind,  and  others 
because  they  have  some  good  grains  that  the  reader 
238 


BOOKS  FOR   SEX-EDUCATION  239 

will  find  worth  picking  from  a  mass  of  non-nutritious 
but,  fortunately,  non-poisonous  chaff. 

I  have  not  included  many  books  which  I  recognize 
as  important  for  readers  thoroughly  trained  in 
science,  but  which  are  dangerous  for  the  average 
reader  of  literature  on  sex. 

It  is  possible  that  I  may  have  overlooked  some 
very  good  books  that  I  have  not  intended  to  ignore ; 
and  I  shall  be  glad  to  have  my  attention  called  to 
books  which  deserve  recognition. 

Special  bibliographies  have  been  published  in 
Wile's  "Sex-Education,"  March's  "Towards  Racial 
Health,"  Geddes  and  Thomson's  "Sex,"  and  Fos- 
ter's "Social  Emergency." 

Publishers.  —  In  most  cases  the  first  part  of  the 
names  of  well-known  publishers  has  been  given. 
Unless  otherwise  mentioned,  they  have  offices  in  New 
York  City.  In  addition,  the  following  abbreviations 
have  been  used : 

A.M.  A.  =  American  Medical  Association,  Chicago. 

A.S.H.A.  =  American  Social  Hygiene  Associa- 
tion, 105  West  40th  St.,  New  York  City. 

S.S.M.P.  =  Society  of  Sanitary  and  Moral  Pro- 
phylaxis, 105  West  4oth  Street,  New  York  City. 

Association  Press  =  press  of  the  National  Board 
of  the  Y.M.C.A.,  New  York  City. 

FOE  EDUCATORS  AND  PARENTS 

ADDAMS,  JANE.  "A  New  Conscience  and  an  Ancient  Evil." 
Macmillan.  $1.00.  (Contains  all  the  average  reader 
needs  to  know  concerning  prostitution.) 


240  SEX-EDUCATION 

BOK,  EDWARD,  Editor.  "Books  of  Self-Knowledge  for  Young 
People  and  Parents."  Revell.  $.25  each. 

BIGELOW,  M.  A.  "Relation  of  Biology  to  Sex-Instruction  in 
Schools  and  Colleges."  Journal  of  Social  Diseases,  II,  4, 
October,  1911. 

CABOT,  RICHARD  C.  "The  Christian  Approach  to  Social 
Morality."  National  Y.W.C.A.,  New  York.  $.50. 

CABOT,  RICHARD  C.  "What  Men  Live  By."  Houghton 
Mifflin.  $1.50.  (A  book  that  has  helped  many  people.) 

CABOT,  R.  C.  "  Consecration  of  the  Affections."  Proceedings 
of  Fifth  Cong.  Amer.  School  Hygiene  Assoc.,  Ill,  1911, 
p.  114.  Also  in  Amer.  Phy.  Ed.  Rev.,  XVI,  1911, 
pp.  247-253.  (See  "Criticisms  of  Sex-Education"  in 
§  46  of  this  book.) 

COCKS,  ORRIN  G.  "The  Social  Evil  and  Methods  of  Treat- 
ment." Association  Press.  $.25. 

CREIGHTON,  LOUISE.  "The  Social  Disease  and  How  to  Fight 
It."  Longmans.  $.35.  (A  splendid  essay  on  social 
impurity  from  a  modern  woman's  viewpoint.  Construc- 
tive and  optimistic.) 

ELIOT,  C.  W.  "Public  Opinion  and  Sex-Hygiene."  A.S.H.A. 
$.05. 

ELIOT,  C.  W.  "School  Instruction  in  Sex  Hygiene."  Pro- 
ceedings of  Fifth  Cong.  Amer.  School  Hygiene  Assoc.,  1911. 

ELLIS,  HAVELOCK.  "The  Task  of  Social  Hygiene."  Hough- 
ton.  $2.50.  (Certain  chapters  concern  sex-education.) 

GALLOWAY,  T.  W.    "Biology  of  Sex."    Heath.    $.75. 

GEDDES,  PATRICK,  and  THOMSON,  J.  ARTHUR.  "Sex."  Holt. 
$.50.  (Excellent.) 

GEDDES  and  THOMSON.  "The  Problems  of  Sex."  Moffat. 
$.50. 

FOSTER,  W.  T.  "The  Social  Emergency."  Houghton. 
$1.35.  (Twelve  excellent  essays  by  President  Foster, 
Reed  College,  and  nine  others,  on  social  hygiene  and 
education.) 

HALL,  G.  STANLEY.  "Adolescence."  Appleton.  2  vols. 
$7-50. 


BOOKS   FOR    SEX-EDUCATION  241 

HALL,  G.  S.    "  Youth :  Its  Education,  Regimen  and  Hygiene." 

Appleton.    $1.50. 
HALL,  G.  S.    "Needs  and  Methods  of  Educating    Young 

People  in  Hygiene  of  Sex."     Pedagogical  Seminary,  XV, 

March,  1908. 
HALL,  G.  S.    "Teaching  of  Sex  in  Schools  and  Colleges." 

Journal  of  Social  Diseases,  II,  4,  October,  1911. 
HALL,  WINFIELD  S.    "Sex  Training  in  the  Home."    Richard- 
son, Chicago.    $1.10. 
HENDERSON,  CHAS.  R.     "Education  with  Reference  to  Sex." 

University  of  Chicago  Press.     Part  I,  78  cts. ;  II,  80  cts. 

(Part  I  demonstrates    need  of  sex-education;  ,11,  the 

educational  problems.) 
HERTER,  C.  A.    "Biological  Aspects  of  Human  Problems." 

Macmillan.  $1.50.    (Sexual  instincts,  pp.    182-252;  sex- 
education,  306-316.) 
HIMK,    MAURICE    C.     "Schoolboys'    Special    Immorality." 

Churchill,    London.     $.40.     (For  masters    of    boarding 

schools.) 
HODGE,  C.  F.    "  Social  Hygiene  in  Public  Schools."    School 

Science  and  Mathematics,  April,  1911. 
HOWARD,  W.  L.    "Start  Your  Child  Right."    Revell.    $.75. 

(Readable,  sensible,. helpful  to  parents.) 
LOWRY,  EDITH  B.    "False  Modesty:  That  Protects  Vice  by 

Ignorance."     Forbes.     $.50.      (Arguments    for    sex-in- 
struction in  home  and  school.) 
LOWRY,    E.    B.      "Teaching    Sex-Hygiene    in    the    Public 

Schools."      Forbes.      $.50.      (Useful    for    parents    and 

teachers.) 
LYTTLETON,  E.    "Training  the  Young  in  the  Laws  of  Sex." 

Longmans,  Green.    $1.00.     (Heartily  approved  by  many 

educators.) 
MARCH,  NORAH  H.    "Towards  Racial  Health."    Routledge, 

London.    $1.00.     (Very   helpful   book  for  parents  and 

teachers.) 
MORLEY,   MARGARET   W.    "Renewal   of   Life."    McClurg. 

$1.10.     (Nature-study  basis  for  teaching  children.) 


242  SEX-EDUCATION 

MORROW,  BALLIET,  and  BIGELOW.  "  Report  of  Special  Com- 
mittee on  Matters  and  Methods  of  Sex-Education." 
A.S.H.A.  $.05. 

MORROW,  PRINCE  A.  "  Teaching  of  Sex-Hygiene."  A.S.H.A. 
$.03.  (A  splendid  address.) 

MORROW,  P.  A.  "The  Boy  Problem."  S.S.M.P.  $.05. 
(Helpful  to  parents.) 

MORROW,  P.  A.  "The  Sex  Problem."  S.S.M.P.  $.03. 
(A  fair  statement  of  the  double  morality  problem.) 

PARKINSON,  WILLIAM  D.  "Sex  and  Education."  Educa- 
tional Review,  January,  1911.  (Stands  for  ethical  and 
aesthetic  teaching  primarily.) 

SCHARLIEB   and   SIBLY.     "Youth  and  Sex."    Dodge.    $.25. 

SELIGMAN,  E.  R.  A.  "The  Social  Evil."  Putnam.  $1.50. 
(A  good  survey  of  the  evil,  based  on  the  work  of  the 
Committee  of  Fourteen  in  New  York.) 

WILE,  IRA  S.  "Sex  Education."  Duffield.  $1.00.  (A  very 
useful  book  for  parents.) 

WOOD- ALLEN,  MARY.  "Teaching  Truth."  Crist  Co.  $.50. 
Suggestions  for  mothers'  talks  to  young  children.) 

"Social  Hygiene."  A  quarterly  journal  of  the  A.S.H.A. 
$2.00  per  year,  free  to  members. 

FOR  GIRLS 

ADDAMS,  JANE.    "Spirit  of  Youth  and  the  City  Streets." 

Macmillan.    $1.25. 
CHAPMAN,  ROSE  WOODALLEN.    "  How  Shall  I  Tell  My  Child ?  " 

Revell.    $.25. 
DODGE,  GRACE  H.    "A  Bundle  of  Letters  to  Busy  Girls." 

Funk.    $.50. 
HALL,    JEANNETTE    W.     "Life's    Story."     Steadwell,    La 

Crosse,  Wis.     $.25.      (Biological  facts  for  girls  of  10 

to  16.) 
HALL,  W.  S.    "Life  Problems:   A  Story  for  Girls."    A.M. A. 

$.10.      (A    good    pamphlet    for    girls    of    12    to    18 

years.) 


BOOKS    FOR    SEX-EDUCATION  243 

HALL,  W.  S.  "The  Doctor's  Daughter :  Studies  about  Life." 
A.M. A.  $.10.  (On  nature-study  basis,  for  girls  under 
12  years.) 

HOOD,  MARY  G.  "For  Girls  and  the  Mothers  of  Girls." 
Bobbs-Merrill.  Si.oo. 

HOWARD,  W.  L.  "Confidential  Chats  with  Girls."  Clode. 
$1.00. 

SMITH,  NELLIE  M.  "The  Three  Gifts  of  Life."  Dodd,  Mead. 
$.50.  (A  girl's  responsibility.  For  girls  15  to  18,  who 
have  no  more  than  grammar-school  education.  In  gen- 
eral, sentimental  and  unscientific;  but  Chapter  IV, 
"Gift  of  Choice,"  is  excellent.) 

TORELLE,  ELLEN.  "Plant  and  Animal  Children:  How 
they  Grow."  Heath.  $1.00.  (Useful  as  a  nature- 
study  reader  concerning  reproduction  of  animals  and 
plants.) 

WOOD- ALLEN,  MARY.  "Almost  a  Woman."  Crist  Co. 
$.50.  (A  story  for  girls  of  12  years.) 

WOOD- ALLEN,  MARY.  "What  a  Young  Girl  Should  Know." 
Vir  Co.,  Philadelphia.  $1.00.  (For  girls  under  12  or  14.) 

FOR  BOYS 

HALL,  W.   S.     "John's   Vacation."     A.M.A.     $.10.      (On 

nature-study  basis,  for  pre-adolescent  boys.) 
HALL,  W.   S.    "Chums."    A.M.A.    $.10.     (For  adolescent 

boys.) 
HALL,    W.    S.     "Developing    into    Manhood."    Association 

Press.    $.25.     (Biological   basis,   for  boys  of  15  to  18 

years.) 

HALL,  W.  S.     "Life's  Beginnings."    Association  Press.    $25. 
HALL,   W.    S.    "Youth."    Association   Press.    $.25.     (For 

boys  10  to  12.) 
HOWARD,  W.  L.    "Confidential  Chats  with  Boys."    Clode. 

$1.00. 
JENKS,  J.  W.    "Life  Questions  of  School  Boys."    Association 

Press.    $.25. 


244  SEX-EDUCATION 

JEWETT.  "The  Next  Generation."  Ginn.  $.75.  (Elemen- 
tary eugenics.) 

TORELLE,  ELLEN.  "Plant  and  Animal  Children."  (See 
under  books  for  girls.) 

TREWBY,  ARTHUR.     "Healthy  Boyhood."    Longmans.    $.40. 

WOOD-ALLEN,  MARY.  "Almost  a  Man."  Crist  Co.  $.50. 
(Similar  to  "Almost  a  Woman."  For  pre-adolescent 
boys.) 

FOR  WOMEN 

DRAKE,  E.  F.  A.  "What  a  Young  Wife  Ought  to  Know." 
Vir  Co.,  Philadelphia.  $1.00. 

GALBRAITH,  ANNA.  "Four  Epochs  of  a  Woman's  Life." 
Saunders,  Philadelphia.  $1.50.  (Medical  in  style.  Cer- 
tain sections  relating  to  heredity  are  not  satisfactory.) 

HALL,  W.  S.  "Sexual  Knowledge."  Intern.  Bible  House, 
Philadelphia.  $1.00. 

KEY,  ELLEN.  "Morality  of  Woman  and  other  Essays." 
Seymour,  Chicago.  $1.00.  (Ideal  morality  as  a  basis 
for  marriage.  Good  introduction  to  author's  "Love  and 
Marriage.") 

LOWRY,  E.  B.  "Herself."  Forbes.  $1.10.  (In  general, 
accurate.  Medical  style.) 

MARTIN,  H.  N.  "Human  Body  —  Advanced  Course." 
Holt.  $2.50.  (Last  chapter,  on  reproduction,  excel- 
lent.) 

RUMMEL,  LUELLA  Z.  "Womanhood  and  Its  Development." 
Burton  Co.,  Kansas  City.  $1.50.  (One  of  the  best  books 
for  mature  women.  Poorly  printed.) 

SCHREINER,  OLIVE.  "Woman  and  Labor."  Stokes.  $1.25. 
(Important  for  the  feminist  movement.) 

WEST,  MRS.  MAX.  "Prenatal  Care."  Bulletin  of  Children's 
Bureau,  U.  S.  Dept.  of  Labor.  (A  very  practical  pam- 
phlet.) 

WOOD- ALLEN,  MARY.  "What  a  Young  Woman  Should 
Know."  Vir  Co.,  Philadelphia.  $1.00.  (The  best- 
known  book,  preferred  by  the  majority  of  mothers.) 


BOOKS   FOR   SEX-EDUCATION  245 

FOR  MEN 

EXNER,  M.  J.  "Problems  and  Principles  of  Sex-Education." 
Association  Press.  $.10.  (Study  of  college  men,  and  an 
essay  on  principles.) 

EXNER,  M.  J.  "  The  Physician's  Answer."  Association  Press. 
$.15.  ( Summary  of  opinions  of  numerous  physicians  con- 
cerning the  problems  of  young  men.) 

EXNER,  M.  J.  "The  Rational  Sex  Life  for  Men."  Associa- 
tion Press.  $.15.  (Good,  and  helpful  to  many  young  men.) 

HALL,  W.  S.  "From  Youth  into  Manhood."  Association 
Press.  $.50.  (Highly  approved  and  widely  used.) 

HALL,  W.S.  "Instead of  Wild  Oats."  Revell.  $.25.  (Bok 
Series,  Biological  and  Sociological  basis.) 

HALL,  W.S.  "Reproduction  and  Sexual  Hygiene."  Wynne- 
wood,  Chicago.  $.00.  (Very  useful  book,  but  criticized 
by  many  who  disagree  with  the  hygienic  part.) 

HALL,  W.S.  "Sexual  Knowledge."  Intern.  Bible  House. 
Philadelphia.  $1.00.  (Useful  for  both  men  and  women. 
Includes  the  best  of  the  above  book.) 

HOWARD,  WILLIAM  LEE.  "Plain  Facts  on  Sex  Hygiene." 
Clode.  $1.00.  (Sensational  and  exaggerated  statements 
concerning  social  diseases;  language  unnecessarily 
offensive  in  places;  but  discussion  of  "continence"  is 
good.) 

HOWELL  and  KEYES.  "The  Sexual  Necessity."  S.S.M.P.  $.03. 

LOWRY,  E.  B.,  and  LAMBERT,  R.  J.  "Himself:  Talks  with 
Men  concerning  Themselves."  Forbes.  $1.00.  (Accu- 
rate in  facts ;  not  well  arranged ;  not  "  the  best  book," 
as  the  publishers  claim.) 

LYDSTON,  G.  FRANK.  "Sex  Hygiene  for  the  Male."  River- 
ton,  Chicago.  $2.25.  (Readable,  fairly  reliable,  but 
not  worth  the  price.) 

MARTIN,  H.N.  "Human  Body  — Advanced  Course."  Holt. 
$2.50.  (Last  chapter,  especially  in  1910  edition.) 

MOORE,  H.  H.  "Keeping  in  Condition."  IMacmillan. 
$1.00.  (A  physical  training  book.) 


246  SEX-EDUCATION. 

MORROW,  PRINCE  A.   "  Health  and  Hygiene  of  Sex."  S.S.M.P. 

$.05.     (The  best-known  pamphlet  for  college  men.) 
SPEER,  ROBERT  E.    "A  Young  Man's  Questions."    Revell. 

$.80. 
SPERRY,  LYMAN  B.    "Confidential  Talks  with  Young  Men." 

Revell.    $.75. 
STALL,  SYLVANUS.    "What   a   Young   Husband   Ought   to 

Know."    Vir  Co.,  Philadelphia.    $1.00.     (This  and  the 

next  are  useful  to  men  who  prefer  a  religious  approach  to 

sexual  information.) 
STALL,  SYLVANUS.    "What  a  Young  Man  Ought  to  Know." 

Vir  Co.,  Philadelphia.    $1.00. 
WILSON,  ROBERT  N.    "American  Boy  and  the  Social  Evil." 

Winston.    $1.00. 

FOR  THE  MARRIED 

COCKS,  ORRIN  G.    "Engagement  and  Marriage."    Associa- 
tion  Press.    $.25.     (Talks   to   young   men,  but  young 

women  should  be  interested.) 
COWAN,   JOHN.    "Science   of   a   New  Life."    1869.    $3.00. 

(Obsolete,  unreliable,  unscientific;    but  widely  sold  by 

magazine  advertising.) 
DAVIDSON,  HUGH  S.    "Marriage  and  Motherhood."    Dodge. 

$.25. 

DAVIS,  E.  P.     "Mother  and  Child."    Lippincott.    $1.50. 
FOERSTER,  F.  W.     "  Marriage  and  the  Sex  Problem."     Stokes. 

$1.35.     (An  important  book.) 
HOLT,  L.  E.     "Care  and  Feeding  of  Children."    Appleton. 

$.75.     (The  well-known  nursery  guide  by  the  famous 

pediatrician.) 
HOWARD,  W.  L.    "Facts  for  the  Married."    Clode.    $1.00. 

(Good,  from  a  physician's  standpoint.) 
JORDAN,  W.  J.     "Little  Problems  of  Married  Life."    Revell. 

$1.00.     (Essays  which    touch   many  problems  of  home 

life.) 
KEY,     ELLEN.     "Love     and    Marriage."    Putnam.    $1.50. 

(The  greatest  work  of  this  famous  Swedish  author.) 


BOOKS    FOR    SEX-EDUCATION  247 

SALEEBY,  C.  W.    "Parenthood  and  Race  Culture."    Moffat, 

Yard.    $2.50.     (Popular  eugenics.) 
SPERRY,  LYMAN  B.    "Confidential  Talks  with  Husband  and 

Wife."    Revell.    $1.00. 
WOOD-ALLEN,     MARY.      "Ideal    Married    Life."      Revell. 

$1.25.     (Best  book  by  this  well-known  physician   and 

author.) 

HEREDITY  AND  EUGENICS 

CASTLE,  W.  E.  "Heredity  in  Relation  to  Evolution  and 
Animal  Breeding."  Appleton.  $1.50. 

CONKLIN,  F.  G.  "  Heredity  and  Environment  in  the  Develop- 
ment of  Men."  Princeton  University  Press.  $2.00. 

DAVENPORT,  C.  B.  "Heredity  in  Relation  to  Eugenics." 
Holt.  $2.00. 

DAWSON,  G.  E.  "Right  of  the  Child  to  be  Well  Born." 
Funk.  $.75. 

DONCASTER,  L.  "  Heredity  in  the  Light  of  Recent  Research." 
Putnam.  $.40. 

GEDDES,  P.,  and  THOMSON,  J.  A.    "Evolution."    Holt.    $.50. 

GUYER,  M.  F.  "Being  Well  Born."    Bobbs-Merrill.    $1.00. 

KELLICOTT,  W.  E.  "The  Social  Direction  of  Human  Evolu- 
tion." Appleton.  $1.50. 

PUNNETT,  R.  C.    "Mendelism."    Macmillan.    $.50. 

SALEEBY,  C.  W.  "Parenthood  and  Race  Culture."  Moffat, 
Yard.  $2.50. 

THOMSON,  J.  A.    "Heredity."    Putnam.    $3.50. 

WALTER,  H.  E.    "Genetics."    Macmillan.    $1.50. 


INDEX 


Abnormality,  in  literature,  129  ff. 
Adolescence,  and  sex-instruction, 

146  ff. 

Adults,  and  special  sex-instruc- 
tion, 26. 

/Esthetics  of  sex,  4,  74,  197. 
Affection,     163;      "consecration 

of,"  210;  in  marriage,  189. 
Aims,  of  sex-education,   92,  94 ; 

of  sex-education  societies,  228. 
Animals,  and  human  sexuality, 

72. 
Arguments,    for   sex-instruction, 

28  ff. 

Asceticism,  69. 
Athletics,  and  sex,  141. 
Attitude,  towards  sex,  26,  67  ff. ; 

and  morals,  75. 

Bibliography,  238  ff. 

Biology,  56,  65 ;  and  ethics,  102 

ff. ;    and  sex-instruction,   147 ; 

moral  value,  217.  fc 

Books,  as  teachers,  121  ff.,  241 

ff. ;  see  also  literature. 
Boys,  influence  on,  158;   special 

instruction,  148-150. 

Cabot,  R.  C.,  63,  210  ff. 
Childhood,  25. 

Children,  ignorant  of  sex,  204. 
Circumcision,  139. 
Coeducation,   in  sex-instruction, 

109;  and  sex  adjustment,  So. 
Continence,  160  ff.,   176  ff.;    of 

women,  190  ff. 

Contraception,  and  ethics,  219. 
Control,  of  sex  instincts,  18. 


Criticisms,  of  sex-education,  203 
ff. ;  conclusions  regarding,  226. 

Curiosity,  denied  by  Repplier 
and  Taft,  q.v. 

Dancing,  169  ff.,  200. 

Diseases,  social  or  venereal,  37  ff. 

Dress,  of  women,  174  ff.,  200. 

Education,  as  a  solution,  19,  88 ; 
coeducation,  80;  sex-differen- 
tiated, 82. 

Eliot,  C.  W.,  71. 

Emissions,  149. 

Ethics,  and  biology,  102 ;  and 
sex-hygiene,  61  ff. ;  of  sex,  4. 

Eugenics,  86  ff. ;  aim  of,  105 ; 
and  ethics,  103. 

Europe,  and  sex  problems,  59  ff. ; 
morality  in,  59;  sex-hygiene 
in,  230. 

Evolution,  and  vulgarity,  75. 

Fiction,  and  sex  tragedies,  127. 
Foerster,  70. 
Frankness,  206. 
Friendships,  of  children,  136. 
Fulton,  J.  S.,  40. 
Future,   of   sex-education,    234- 
237. 

Genetics,  87. 

Girls,    special    instruction,    151; 

unprotected,  191. 
Gonorrhea,  see  Diseases. 
Good,  and  evil,  215. 


Hamilton,  Cosmo,  208. 
Hartley,  C.  Gasquoinc,  82  ff. 


249 


250 


INDEX 


Heredity,  87 ;  and  sex-education, 

104. 

History,  of  sex-education,  227  ff. 
Homes,  and  sex-instruction,  21. 
Hunger,  two  kinds,  73. 
Hygiene,  and  ethics,  210  ff. ;   of 

sex,  1-4,  25. 

N 

Ideals,  of  manhood,  185;  of 
womanhood,  157;  of  love  and 
marriage,  159,  187. 

Ignorance,  45,  50,  54;  of  chil- 
dren, 12-14. 

Illegitimacy,  52  ff.,  59. 

Immorality,  38 ;  danger  in  teach- 
ing, 67. 

Instincts,  sexual,  16-18. 

Intellectualism,  and  sex,  83. 

Kallikak  family,  103. 
Key,  Ellen,  64,  79. 
Knowledge,  and  will,  217. 

Lectures,  on  sex-hygiene,  100. 

Legislation,  and  social  diseases, 
47- 

Literature,  general  list,  241  ff. ; 
for  parents,  33 ;  on  marriage, 
79;  on  diseases,  39;  on  sex, 
ii ;  on  social  evil,  52 ;  general 
and  sex,  124  ff. ;  general  refer- 
ences, 238  ff . ;  for  young  men, 
161,  183;  for  young  women, 
20 1 ;  radical  sex,  193. 

Marriage,  159,  187;  a  sex  prob- 
lem, 71  ff. 

Masturbation,  137  ff. 

Maxwell,  W.  H.,  221. 

Men,  as  leaders  in  love,  188; 
instruction  for,  156  ff. 

Misunderstanding,  of  sex,  5. 

Monogamy,  59. 

Morality,  58  ff. ;  double  stand- 
ard, 42. 

Morrow,  P.  A.,  37,  70;  leader, 
227. 


Mothercraft,  155. 

Mothers,   and   boys,    1  1  1  ;    first 

teachers,  in. 
Mystery,  and  sex,  15. 

Names,  of  sex  organs,  148  ff. 
National  Education  Association, 

resolution   on    sex-instruction, 

232. 

Nature-study,  133. 
Need,  of  sex-instruction,  11,  19. 
Neumann,  H.,  221. 

Oliphant,  James,  159. 
Optimism,  sex,  196. 
Organization,    of    sex-education, 
96  ff. 

Parents,  and  daughters,  184,  190; 
cooperation  of,  23;  responsi- 
bility, 14;  attitude,  30. 

Parkinson,  W.  D.,  41. 

Passion,  58. 

Pessimism,  sex,  72,  84,  196. 

Poetry,  124  ff. 

Pre-adolescence,  25,  133  ff. 

Problems  of  sex,  28  ff.,  92,  95. 

Promiscuity,  38. 

Propagandism,  needed,  28  ff. 

Prophylactics,  venereal,  219. 

Prostitution,  48  ff.,  164;  protec- 
tive knowledge  for  women,  199. 

Reading,    concerning   perversion 

and  vice,  51. 

Refinement,  of  men,  167. 
Religion,  approach  to  sex-instruc- 

tion, 209. 

Repplier,  Agnes,  203. 
Reproduction,  and  sex,  5. 
Responsibility,  indirect  of  women, 

195  ;  individual,  18  ;  of  parents, 


Sanitation,     and    morals,     229; 

see  also  hygiene  and  ethics. 
Self  -abuse,  137  ff. 


IXDKX 


251 


Self-control,  70,  173,  176-182 ; 
of  women,  igo  fl. 

Sensationalism,  233. 

Sex-education,  definition,  i ; 
larger  view  of,  27 ;  need  of, 
1 1 ;  problems  of,  28  ff. ;  rela- 
tions, 4. 

Sex-hygiene,  1-5 ;  adequacy,  43 ; 
personal,  35  ff . ;  social,  3 ;  and 
eugenics,  86;  and  ethics,  114, 
212  ff. ;  personal,  g8  ff. 

Sex-instruction,  in  schools,  20, 
23;  in  homes,  21;  in  high 
schools,  24;  many-sided,  89. 

Sex,  meaning  of  the  word,  6-10. 

Social  diseases,  166;  essential 
knowledge  to  be  taught,  107. 

Social  evil,  4,  48  ff. 

Social  hygiene,  3;  and  ethics, 
101. 


Societies,  for  sex  problems,  231, 

232. 

Society  for  Prophylaxis,  62. 
Super-morality,  64  ff. 
Syphilis,  see  Diseases. 

Taft,  W.  H.,  224. 

Task,  of  sex-education,  go. 

Teachers,  of  sex  facts,  108 ;  for 
classes,  113;  married  women, 
no;  same  sex  as  pupils,  109; 
undesirable,  115. 

Teaching,  morals,  216  ff. ;  per- 
sonal, 205,  214. 

Tennyson,  and  sex  lessons,  125. 

Vulgarity,  67  ff. 

Women,  and  diseases,  45;  in- 
struction for,  184  ff. 


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